Political Correctness, Will it ever come to an end?

Just when I think I have heard it all, along comes another example of just how ridiculous the whole issue of being politically correct has become. Maybe I am simply more aware of it because we are heading towards Christmas and the confusion is rampant, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays... no one is quite sure. Even Santa seems confused, how many times does old St Nick appear in an advertisement wishing everyone "Happy Holidays"' pretty sad when even he is afraid to use the "C" word in public.

But enough about the confusion surrounding "Christmas" (oops, old habits die hard). What got my head spinning this week has absolutely nothing to do with the political correctness surrounding this particular time of year. It appears we have a new word that has been added to the list that we are not allowed to use in polite company. Now this particular word is one that many of us grew up hearing on a regular basis, one that we all took for granted, and one to my knowledge carried no animosity or ill will with it. Even as a very young boy I commonly used the world to refer to a popular sports and even a particular model of sports car.

At this point you are undoubtedly wondering what this taboo word is, well for now lets just call it the "M" word as I am now finding myself having difficulty even using this now demeaning term in my blog, "oh the humanity".


Recently in the US House of Representatives, the use of the "M" word was addressed in a five minute speech by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) who apologized for his own use of word “out of ignorance and not spite or hatred”, and vowed he would personally never use it again. Rep. Johnson then went on to compare the "M" word to another word that has become socially unacceptable to most people in today's world.
“Everybody knows what the n-word is,” Johnson said. “The n-word, Mr. Speaker, is used to describe a group of people and the n-word used to be fashionable, or it used to be socially acceptable to use the n-word, but now we don’t say the n-word, we say, we refer to that word as the n-word.”

Johnson then went into great detail to describe exactly which group the “m-word” referred to although he did slip once and say the word “m*****”, excusing himself after he did so:
“The m-word, it’s also a word that describes a group of people and it at one time has been commonly used as a descriptive term. It was at one time was socially acceptable but to my discovery, just within the last 12 hours or so, I have found that the use of the word m*****, excuse me, the use of the m-word is no longer socially acceptable."

The original "small" guy

So what is this taboo word that all the fuss is about......well at the risk of being branded a bigot or socially unacceptable, here goes. The word in question is "midget", but rather than steal the thunder of Rep. Johnson, here are his words;
“Now the m-word refers to a group of people, the little people. But when we say little people I’m not talking about the Leona Helmsley little people, I’m not talking about the 47 percent, I’m not talking about the takers instead of the makers as some would describe them. I’m not talking about the middle class, working people, poor people, working poor people, that’s not what is meant by the little people term. It really refers to a medical condition. Dwarfism is the name of that medical condition and sometimes I guess one can even say abnormally small people. Abnormally small people which, to me, I like that term better than dwarfism.”
(Interesting isn't it, that even when a Democrat is apologizing for his own perceived mistake, he can still find the time to to take a pot shot at the Right)

So, now that the "M" word is no longer socially acceptable what becomes of midget wrestling, midget hockey, midget AAA baseball, or the famed British sports car the MG Midget? Somehow the ideal of watching "small people wrestling" just doesn't conjure up the same excitement as it used to. Worse yet how do we refer to Rep. Johnson if the term "mental midget" is removed from the English language?

On another note, as a "Follicly Challenged" individual (thinning hair) I am curious as to how long it will be before the "B" word (bald, there I said it) is taboo and those sporting a comb-over can once again hold their heads up with pride and not be ridiculed for a cruel twist of genetics. Will the American "Bald" Eagle be renamed?

One last thought, is it any wonder that Government moves at a snails pace? Here we have an elected official standing up in the House of Representatives and spending precious time to apologize to the "vertically challenged,  mind you the Democrats have always claimed they were the party of the"little guy" so maybe he is just doing what Democrats do. Thankfully the United States is not facing any serious political issues at present, say like a "fiscal cliff" or something of the sort.