It is almost impossible to get my random ramblings through the politically-correct sieve. It would take some amount of bravery to publish what I write.
Having said that, I must admit I have got it wrong again. Yes I should not have said ‘brave’. That will be subscribing to a ‘war-mongering male-ego’ idea. Sorry no use of ‘brave’.
I take back the ‘brave’ bit. And yes the ‘ramblings’ too. I am told there are some who loathe to think randomly. Being followers of the I-think-therefore-I-am school, they will be up in arms. There I go again, arms? Sorry about that too.
This, then, is a big problem for me, I think and therefore I get into trouble.
Like the other day, after having had to sit through an hour of political-correct words, my friend subjected me to, I went to buy some black rose for my garden. Yes, I know I should not mention black. And that’s exactly what I did not. Subsequently it took ages for the gardener to fathom which flower (rose too is a nomenclature, and anything which is likely to produce a pre-conceived notion is strict No No in the politically-correct language) whose colour reflects comparatively little light and has no predominant hue was I talking about. And that too after I pointed it out to him.
I fell I will be better off speaking in sign language. Oops there I go again, not sign language but different language. If I say sign I would be doing a dis-service to the vocally challenged.
The thoughtlessness with which I am so comfortable, has often got me into trouble. Talking about Sourav Ganguly (Yes people do still talk about him) I mentioned at a small gathering how effective the left-hander was. I soon realised I had stepped, unknowingly, on someone’s toes.
A organisation sprung up, calling itself the Left-hand Rightists, to decry my insensitivity and said I was reinforcing a wrapped sense of left and right. It said I deliberately mentioned left-handed. Would I, it asked, mention right-handed if I was talking about Sachin Tendulkar?
When I could not quite understand their hue and cry about, I was ‘listed.’ “We are against racism and hence make it a point to just say listed”, the organisation explaining it political correct name for black-list, said. Not quite aware of the situation I was getting into (and not for the first time) I said the whole issue was childish.
That did it. “You are casting a slur upon all children and childhood” the LHRs attacked me in unison.
Sorry yet again. No attack. They came together in an overwhelming sense of hurt to prevail upon me the fact that the words I used was not acceptable to certain people because it would mean to tell the some people who are different are not the same and hence different.!
Ah! Where is man headed too?. Yes Man too is a taboo. I would have to use man/women, mankind/womenkind, he/she every time. Better I was told to stick to person. But then there is a son in person too..
There are a whole lot of words which would off the lexicon these days for connoting an old fashioned ideas promoting inequality, reeking of insensitivity.
Left, right, black, white, she, he hers, mine, belong up down …name it and you can count on it to hurt sentiments.
And yes blacksmiths, goldsmiths, carpenter, barber, tailor, and such common nouns (Oh yes common too!!) are words waiting to just explode.
If you don’t believe just try stepping on a minefield of even more innocent-looking words like Bengali, Punjabi, Marwari et all and see yourself being blown up!
All that talk leaves me feeling intellectually-challenged.
I do admit that words have their own sensitivity, but to being so dogmatic about it !. There dogmatic too is bad you are belittling a canine species!
If words aren’t enough there is a whole armory of ‘not-so-political’ names which can take up an whole dictionary of its own.
And I sit wondering how to ever get anything politically correct.
Politically correct too for that matter, I feel is bit ironic.
For, is anything political ever correct?
Random Ramblings of a Reluctant Blogger 
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