Short Circuits by Dorien Grey Page A

them, we are bound to miss far more than we catch. There are so many things we should have done that we did not do it is easy to forget that there are a lot of things which we should have done and
did
do; opportunities taken, acts of kindness unremembered or unnoticed. What we should not do is to be too hard on ourselves. Leave that to me.
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    POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
    I’m sorry, but I’ve more than had it with “Political Correctness.” Our society has become one gigantic exposed nerve end. It wasn’t bad enough that we are among the most anal-retentive nations on earth and a classic example of “the double-edged sword” in almost every aspect of our national life and attitudes, but now we dare say nothing that might possibly be construed as being an insult to one group or another. Enough is enough!
    There are two quotes I dearly love and have repeated over and over, one Alexander King’s observation that “there are those who find obscenity in the crotch of every tree,” and the classic definition of puritanism as being “the deep, abiding fear that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.”
    When I was a kid, licorice was available in small pieces shaped like a child. They were called “nigger babies.” I loved them. Did that make me a racist? Was I in some way asserting my superiority over Negroes/Blacks/Persons of color/African Americans? No, damn it, I was eating licorice!
    Brazil nuts were called “nigger toes.” Good lord!! But when I ate them, was I making a symbolic statement of one race’s superiority over another? Please!
    A popular laundry detergent, The Gold Dust Twins, featured the faces of two Negro/Black/Persons of Color/African American children on the box. The little girl had her hair in small ribboned knots. A blatant, inexcusable racial slur and insult, since it implied yet another terrible epithet: “Pickaninny.”
    Many traditional American ballads, most specifically some by Stephen Foster, are never, ever heard or played today. “Old Black Joe”? Horrors! How dare Foster have done such a reprehensible thing?
    A favorite children’s story was “Little Black Sambo” about a small boy and a tiger. But the little boy was Negro/Black/Persons of Color/African American and today’s children are therefore forbidden enjoy what is simply a charming story. Do you suppose if they changed it to “Little Absolutely-No-Discernible-Racial-Or-Ethnic-Background Fill-In-An-Acceptable-Name” it might be allowed back on the shelf? I doubt it.
    I’m using examples of Negro/Black/Persons of Color/African American only because they are the focal point of Political Correctness. I can cite lesser but equal examples where we never ever joke about the Polish or the Irish, or Jews, and any sort of dialect used in telling jokes. Any joke featuring anyone of an ethnic or racial minority is considered shockingly bad taste.
    As a member of a minority myself…I’m a homosexual, just in case someone might not have already known…I find references to “Queers,” “Fruits,” “Pansies,” and “Fags” deeply offensive if they are used or intended in a derogatory way. But I’ve noticed that members of many minorities use among themselves exactly the same words they would not tolerate from others.
    We don’t even call policemen “policemen” any more…they are “law enforcement officers”; the heads of committees are “Chairpersons.” Oh, come on!
    Political correctness has its roots in good intentions but too much of a good thing is a bad thing. As with all things, some degree of moderation is indicated. Common sense, already in such scarce supply as to be an endangered concept, really should prevail. We have, in our zealousness not to offend anyone under any circumstances, in effect robbed our culture and our heritage of the flavor and spice which