We allow this sort of thing to go unchallenged. There is no such thing as a “hatecrime”. The crime is assault, murder, rape, etc. There is crime and punishment. Let the punishment fit the crime not the motivation behind the crime. It is not a crime to dislike a homosexual. It is a crime to assault a person. I heard the term “guncrime” the other day. I suppose I am just going to give up when I hear the term “facecrime” in the media.

Being asked to use polite terms is fine. Being forced to use polite terms is not. Everyone is worried about being offended. Thicken your skin, but know where the line is. “Thinking long term” is PC politics at its finest. Be brave, bold, and brash. Say the wrong thing once and a while, and when you do, be man enough to admit you were wrong. Notice I didn’t say woman enough. Did I offend any of you? Good. Thicken your skin, it builds character. You don’t have the ability to offend me because I have not given you the power. You can call me anything you like, you can insult my ethnicity, and you can defame my gender, but the minute I turn the table, you play the “victim”. Political Correctness hides in the guise of fairness, but it is absoultely unfair to certain groups of people.

Oh, I’ll give you an example, and I don’t care who’s offended as I’m the injured party.

I have Cherokee blood.

And I love the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo. It’s smiling, friendly, and inoffensive to me.

You know what offends me? The bastards outside every Cleveland Indians game protesting. Ever see an Indian in the bunch? You do? When did Native Americans settle in Ireland or Nigeria? That’s right, kids. The people complaining the loudest trace their ancestries back to Europe and Africa. Frankly, I’m more offended by self-righteous blowhards (so you can imagine what I REALLY think of the far right in this country) than I am by a cartoon. Next time, ask me if I’m offended before you protest on my behalf. Otherwise, I reserve the right to spit in your face on the way into the Jake.

Political correctness is where a small group of people, claiming to speak on behalf of a much larger group, declares that larger group offended by some word or action, and then complains loudly and publicly whenever someone “offends” this group. The fact that some (or even most?) of the group members aren’t offended (or, in many cases, don’t even care) becomes irrelevant.

I’d give an example, but by definition, it would be politically incorrect, and I don’t want to offend anyone. ;-)

Hastily noted: sometimes, political correctness can also be social correctness. But they are certainly not equivalent sets…

Besides, if I don’t want someone dictating my agenda, where do I get off dictating someone else’s?

That’s the bottom line.