Quote Originally Posted by HamsterOfTheGod View Post
So in a battle about words, you are objecting to battling with words?
I'm objecting to the way the battle is conducted. Or maybe I'm just objecting to people making it a battle, by dragging political correctness into it.
Political debate should be kept out of these forums. But let me say, that in my experience during a certain period of time in a certain place, 'political correctness' was used to stifle debate.
And accusations of political correctness are still frequently used to stifle debate. In fact, I'm not sure I can think of an example within the last ten years where anybody has used political correctness as something other than an insult, except perhaps to defend themselves against said insult (e.g. “what's wrong with political correctness?”). And besides, if political debates should be kept out of these forums, why bring it up? (And no, the OP didn't bring it up by making a suggestion, others brought it up when they accused the OP of being PC).
And other posted have made what? Laws? Decrees? Insults? Or have they expressed their opinions, personal usage, and suggestions?
I'd say the term 'politically correct' is an insult in itself, similarly to 'racist', 'sexist', or 'homophobic', a way of making your opponent out to be intolerant. The only difference is that 'racist', 'sexist', and 'homophobic' are frequently legitimate concerns. PCness is more like Nazism, it might still technically exist, but it's not a serious threat in 99% of the cases where people bring it up.
I did not object when any posted here their personal usage or when they used such in other posts. It was the OP who suggested the we all should use Spivak. I countered that I refused to use such a usage and I criticized the OP for his suggestion, much as his suggestion criticized everyone else.
There's a huge difference between remarking that you find something inelegant, impractical, or that it feels unnatural, and calling it a tyranny, monstrosity, and idiotic, and especially making it out to be an ideological debate, and give lectures about the evils of political correctness.
And what should be the consequence for my use of the word 'tyranny'? What should be the consequence for my strong but tongue-in-cheek disagreement over word usage with the OP?
None, save (preferably polite) disagreement. But then again, the people who happen to disagree with the politically incorrect majority shouldn't have to have their opinions called PC (and thereby made out to be more political or ideological than many of them intended) either. But I guess we just have different experiences, and as someone who probably haven't experienced being bullied by the politically incorrect majority, you probably just don't find it problematic.