13. I believe in so-called political correctness. I prefer to think it’s social politeness. If I call you Chuck and you say you prefer to be called Charles I’ll call you Charles. It’s the polite thing to do. Not because everyone is a delicate snowflake, but because as Maya Angelou put it, when we know better, we do better. When someone tells you that a term or phrase is more accurate/less hurtful than the one you're using, you now know better. So why not do better? How does it hurt you to NOT hurt another person?
Political correctness is not social politeness. There's a difference: One controls language, the other encourages civility. Neither one is in the Bill of Rights. Neither one falls under Life, Liberty, or the Pursuit of Happiness.
Newsflash: I am not responsible for anyone's feelings but my own. This is true of everyone. Holding me responsible for someone else's choices and feelings is unfair, unreasonable, and unkind.
How a person feels is not who they are. The thing about feelings is that they change. Several can be felt at once. Sometimes, feelings contradict the truth.
This discussion isn't simply about a change of names. This has reached much deeper. This has become about pronouns that defy science. Is everyone expected to keep a log of how to refer to everyone who wants to be called something special? Who sets the standard? What makes them qualified to set that standard? Who decides whose feelings are more important?
How does it hurt? People are losing their jobs and being jailed for using the "wrong" pronoun. People who are strangers. We aren't talking about a friend refusing to use something different; we're talking about strangers, who don't know. Even if they do, they are being asked to lie.
Because of the lying I grew up in, telling the truth has become of vital importance to me. In fact, to help me recover from the twisted logic I was raised by, I create Rule #1: Stop lying, especially to yourself. Why am I expected to break my code of honor for someone's feelings? A perfectly reasonable code of honor. You can be jailed for lying. I do not intentionally hurt people, and you're cruel to suggest that I do.
What is better about lying?
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