Politically Correct Language

Politically correct language follows a certain agenda, and Mairs discussed the impact of this. To begin with, the author discusses her use of non-PC language and the effect of PC language on society.  “people wince at the word ‘cripple,’ as they do not at ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled.’ Perhaps I want them to wince.

In the excerpt “Disable (1992)”, Nancy Mairs claims that she prefers to be described as a “cripple” as opposed to the more accepted terms “disabled or handicapped.” Mairs states, “I am a cripple. I choose this word to name me. I choose from among several possibilities, the most common of which are ‘handicapped’ and ‘disabled’.” In order to allow the audience to understand her viewpoint, Mairs utilizes repetition by consistently using the term “cripple”, denotation using the words “handicapped” and “disabled,” and has a blunt tone.

Someone who is crippled often receives pity and sympathy from others, but do cripples always want this? In this passage entitled “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs uses interesting word choice, repetition, and a sarcastic tone to touch upon a subject that most mature non-crippled Americans are not entirely comfortable with; using the so widely feared word “cripple” instead of the common “handicapped” or “disabled” to be polite or politically correct. Elaborating to a society, so infatuated with being politically correct, that using a word considered derogatory to most may be necessary according to exact definition is Mairs’s purpose in writing this passage.

Mairs knows how she was grown, and even if a few branches broke, she still breathes in her reality as something not to be misjudged. If anything, it has helped her see the sky clearer. But Mairs is more than just her words, and with her usage of figurative language, her assessment only becomes more fiercely candid. Mairs further heightens the undermining of truthful words by pointing to the picked up and overly softened terms used throughout existence to “unintentionally degrade” those who are imperfect. Listing out various euphemisms: “handicapped”, “disabled”, and “differently abled...”(line 9, 33, 38), Mairs introduces “coined euphemisms.”

Like George Carlen, I completely agree that using “soft language” to compensate for simple, honest, direct words has gone too far. He gives examples such as how “shell shock” is now transformed into “PTSD”, cripples are now “physical impaired” and so on. Carlen is right in when he says, “soft language takes the life out of life”. He’s basically saying that we are sugar coating the reality of things. At some point when politically correct language began to gain steam, it heightened people’s overall sensitivity level and took away accountability and created an illusion. For example, as Younkin’s points out, what is now known as “culturally deprived”. It’s the 21 century! Yes, we still have different class levels

In the essay, Nancy Mairs presents her unorthodox way of viewing herself and others that live with a disability. She discusses the reasons for referring to herself, a girl born with Multiple Sclerosis, as a cripple, even though the rest of society may not. Throughout the essay, Mairs uses rhetorical devices such as diction and tone to clearly get her beliefs across. Nancy Mairs’, frank and vehement tone, shows her welcoming of the word cripple and its accuracy in defining her in the essay, “I Am A Cripple.” Nancy Mairs, throughout the essay, uses diction in the form of euphemisms and the straightforwardness of her vocabulary.

She identifies as “a cripple”, saying “I choose this word to name me.” She states that she recognizes the uncomfortable feeling it inflicts on all people, proposing that “perhaps I want them to wince.” These statements criticize the stigma around disabilities, and their blunt tone emphasizes the benefits of a “straightforward and precise” nature to labels. In this passage from paragraphs two to four, Mairs explains the true meaning of the words (i.e. “disabled”, “handicapped”, and “differently abled”) abled and disabled people use to identify those with disabilities. She continues to discuss these terms and includes her blunt opinion – it is typically against the use of these labels for their lack of “accuracy with which [they] describe [her] condition.” This shows the abled audience why the stigma surrounding disabilities should be removed because they would not understand her perspective as a disabled person without that explanation. On the other hand, her blunt tone and language is used to convince disabled readers to agree with her message: “I refuse to pretend that the only difference between [abled people] and [disabled people] are the various ordinary ones that distinguish any one person from another.” Both of the effects of Mairs’s blunt tone work to achieve her goal of acceptance of disabled people, but they differ in order to be most effective for their targeted

Think about the word “retarded.” Most people don’t think of this as a negative word or as part of hate speech, but that is exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities (referred to as ID), along with their families and friends. Mental retardation draws a lot of challenges to peoples’ lives. When it comes to the American population most of us are ignorant regarding this subject. Approximately 3% of the general population in the United States suffers from intellectual disabilities (Delgado). It is crazy with a percentage such as this, that people aren’t more educated or informed on the subject. Originally the word started

In an article from The Washington Post, Cathy Cuthbertson, a Trump supporter, said, ““You know, I couldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And when we wrote things, we couldn’t even say ‘he’ or ‘she,’ because we had transgender. People of color. I mean, we had to watch every word that came out of our mouth, because we were afraid of offending someone,”(Tumulty and Johnson). Cuthbertson’s feelings embody much of those who oppose political correctness. Most of the oppositions to political corrections stem from the argument

Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.

Not only does political correctness limit language, it limits competition between groups. For example the competition between the upper and lower class for power would cease if we were made to be politically correct. We need the upper and lower class for our society to function correctly. Without competition society can not thrive, and the philosophy of political correctness attempts to make people equals which effectively blocks individual success thus eliminating any motive to take the risks necessary to succeed. How can a person move up in this world with out stepping on others, and every time someone steps on someone else they will use methods or words that could be taken as politically incorrect. It is the nature of capitalism and democracy to have competing groups which ultimately leads to a separation of the bourgeoisie and proletariat or the upper and lower class. This is the greatest good a capitalistic democratic society can reach because the factions are not permanent; the members of each group are free to move

In “On Being a Cripple,”  Nancy Mairs describes her life as a “cripple,” being treated different for her multiple sclerosis. She describes how society views her as handicapped or disabled both which are terms that the author dislikes.  Her viewpoint makes readers question their own beliefs on how the terms handicapped, disabled, or cripple influences a person to think differently about each term and its meaning. One of the reasons I chose this essay was because the author shows how different terms could affect the way society thinks about a person. Mairs believes that society often judge others based on their physical appearance and use the terms handicapped, disabled, or cripple to label. She argues that the outcome of this is creates an idea where being a cripple, or being disabled is considered a taboo where you're expected to be treated differently. Mairs claims that society i

“Cripple” seems to me a clean word, straightforward and precise.” This ultimately deems language as an intrinsic factor in claiming an accurate identity. Simply by naming the obstacle when it arises, enables one to regain control over it. Similarly, when placing so many people living disabilities under an umbrella term, it erases the truth and the unique experiences of their ailment, and/or in Mairs’ circumstance, the word may not even appropriately describe them.

After all, we hear about it on the news almost every night. We have to be

The “Politically Correct” movement’s purpose is to bring historically condescending terms, offensive music and art, and controversial educational content to an end and replace them with more positive and less-offending references. Offensive and demoralizing efforts are wrong, but the censorship and deletion of words and phrases that do not contain the intention to demoralize are taking political correctness too far. Politically correct (or “PC”) antics have created a social decline that is growing worse with each generation, specifically regarding areas of art, education, language, and our right to freedom of speech; the degradation they have brought to the American psyche has even led to