Newspaper Days – Me PC?

Apparently, the latest complaint by the politically correct crowd is their objection to someone saying Amen at the end of a prayer. They want something more PC, something gender-neutral. Or is that gender neutered? I guess some have asked why they can’t say Awoman instead of Amen. An old junior high school teacher of mine who I keep in touch with on Facebook said that if you have to say Woman after saying Amen, you are Amoron. I can’t say that I disagree with her about that.

Another Facebook friend asked if menopause should now be called womenopause? That does kind of make sense.

I have written some blogs about this before, including one titled, Nick Goes PC. For some reason, that effort never got praised by the politically correct junkies.

Folks, this nonsense is nothing new. Back in my small town newspaper days, the head of a regional real estate group was lobbying for politically correct terms in real estate advertising and sent around a manifesto, excuse me, I mean a guide, to terms that newspapers and real estate people should follow.

Some of her suggestions, and I swear these are true, were that we should never say a home was close to schools because that might be hurtful to childless couples. We should never advertise a place as having a beautiful view because that was offensive to people without sight. I asked her how they would know what the ad said if they couldn’t read it and she called me something I would have taken offense to if I had a shred of dignity.

Forget saying a home was an easy walk to the park or shopping, that might hurt the feelings of handicapped people. Another term that the booklet she passed around objected to was master bedroom, recalling the days of slavery. I asked her if it was still okay to say a home was affordable because I didn’t want to make people who were on a budget feel bad. She really blew her top when I mentioned that she lived on Whiteford Road, which had to be offensive to people of color and those of us who drove Dodges.

Every year my newspaper ran a special section called Women In Business, in which we wrote about the female movers and shakers in the local business community. She objected to that, of course, so I told her that next year we would call it People In Business and include men, too. Guess what? She didn’t like that idea, either. You just can’t please some people.

Another time, years ago, a young Asian woman came into my newspaper office so mad you could almost see flames coming out of her ears. She slammed a copy of that week’s edition on the counter and pointed to an ad for a gun store that included a surplus World War II military rifle, and told me that the designation of the caliber as 6.5 Jap was racist and absolutely infuriated her. She asked if I would say it was a 6.5 Spick or a 6.5 Nigger. I thought it was kind of ironic that she was the one using racial slurs while calling me a racist.

I tried to explain to her that that was the designation for the cartridge (which is now called a 6.5 Arisaka). I was wasting my breath. She didn’t believe me or else she was too busy shouting to hear me. It just so happened that the gun shop that placed the ad was right next door to my office, and I told her to wait a minute. I went next door and retrieved a box of ammunition and brought it to show her, and showed her where it said 6.5 Jap right on the box. I’m glad I didn’t bring the rifle, too, because I think she would have shot me with it!

Thought For The Day – I need to get in shape. If I were murdered right now, my chalk outline would be a circle.