Klugmo, it’s a great discussion BTW. I always hear the term used to describe embarrassment in a member of my own race. When you get down to it, trash works just as well, but the common term is “white trash”. I would just like to say, that I’m not someone who would be inclined to insult people often. I just think that under no uncertain terms, having a list of “bad” words, give them much more gravity then they deserve, as you point out. I see what you mean about the article length and when writing some of it has to have some fluff. Song lyrics are the worse.
“That absolutely doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Yeah but it’s four minutes long and we need three more versus.”
Well Dr Bob can browbeat us all he want’s, it still doesn’t make him an authority on “unacceptable” language and his insecurity about the issue is obvious. Unless I’m miss-interpreting his attempt at advertisement, that could be the case as well.
Political-correctness is a direct cause of our lack of social accountability. In Dr Bobs case it’s his responsibility to police his own social environment, not everyone else’s. He should knock on the lady’s door, give her hell and get on with his life. He’s a big boy now. If someone insults me I don’t make a new decree, some proclamation about the evils of the insult, a new entry into the political-correct handbook. I ignore it, or simply insult them back.
There are laws for just about every miniscule social interaction available to us. The problem with that, is it exchanges legality for morality. If it’s legal, it therefore must also be appropriate, because if it wasn’t, there would have been a law against it. People are no longer required to exercise common sense, or moral decency, because its all written out for them. The problem arises when we have to account for every possible facet of human behavior. From sexual harassment, smoking, drinking, race, sexual orientation, etc. we no longer have to worry about exercising good judgement. If something does comes up that we don’t know how to deal with, just make it taboo. It’s a solution that causes more problems then it avoids. Of course our personal liberties will suffer, but hey that’s a small price to pay for a nice uniformed, polite and safe society.
The people making our laws now are the same folks who were tripping on acid in the sixties. They “know” better and their kids are going to grow up in a nicely padded cell, where all the world is childproofed and the sharp objects hidden from view. I often wonder at what point will it be friggin enough? Vegas looks like Disney land and Bugs Bunny ostracized along with video games to be the world’s next evil. Heaven forbid we actually blame the parents, for their kid’s behavior. Our government treats us like children and rightly so. The more we hand over power to any third party to police our own existence, the less freedom we deserve. Be it from fear of terrorism, financial ruin, lack of medicinal care, social awkwardness, religious and sexual freedom, none of these excuse folks with “good intentions” handing over the keys and washing their hands of the whole messy personal liberty business. Any truly free society requires constant maintenance and as individuals we are no longer up to the task .
Infringements upon the first amendment, regardless of whether it’s supremely offensive or not, poses the increasing risk that it’s far easier to edit the documents of our freedom for conformity, then enforce good judgement in their use. Political-correctness is establishing restrictions, that our government wouldn’t dare to attempt, at least not yet The frustration is caused by the lack or morality and common sense, by rendering those values unnecessary and even the slightest expectation, that we, and we alone, are responsible for our own actions. The answer becomes then, we simply need more laws. Like Dr Bob it’s far easier to tell everyone else what’s appropriate, rather than personally take charge and point out on an individual level, when that threshold has been breached. It’s a disservice to everyone else, who eventually has to give up a small sliver of liberty to carry his burden, it’s a disservice to himself for surrendering that power in the first place and towards the woman for not letting her know what the common expectation may be. Unfortunately society requires actual interaction and that does include confrontation, from time to time. I intensely dislike those with attitudes similar to Dr Bob and I believe attitudes like that, are the epitome of the problem. The less we rely on personal social skills for interaction now, the less we will need them, or more to the point, allowed to use them, in the future. A couple of generations from now, if that far, our children will be complete morons. Government driven drones.
So ok where could something like “white trash” be used in a “good” context? I’m out drinking and a white man is obliterated, staggering in the street screaming obscenities and racial slurs towards the crowd that has gathered around the spectacle. A black man stares in my direction, the connotation is obvious. What’s he thinking right then? I think it’s safe to say it’s probably race related. I could try to diffuse the situation and say something like “Don’t mind him, white trash has opinions too”. Whatever, I’m not incredibly witty.
The point is where does the sympathy lie in that situation. Should I be more worried about treading on the white man’s troubled past? I’m embarrassed “for” the guy, because he’s just too ignorant to be embarrassed for himself. Who knows maybe in his day to day life he’s a doctor, but at that moment the term seems pretty applicable. Ah but that would be pretty “incorrect” of me, because maybe the black man doesn’t sense my intentions and immediately takes it down the road Dr. Bob did? I don’t think so, I would give him more credit than that. If not, I would assume a confrontation was inevitable regardless of any explanation offered and that he’s just as eager to jump on the same wagon, that the drunk white guy is already driving.
Typically such issues would be nicely swept under the rug, like the uncomfortable smile people express when someone farts in the elevator. We all know they giggle when they get around the corner and whisper about it in the office.
