I am really depressed at how often the term is used in the UK. I have returned from a city of cultural diversity (Preston) where it wouldn’t have come up, to Norwich, where I originally come from. It is a predominantly white population where even those seeking public office (a would-be Police Commissioner) use it freely. They tend to call all non-white people ‘coloured’. I find such uneducated use of language offensive, as a white person with an international extended family that includes by marriage, diverse ethnicities and belief systems (Black American, Fijian, Jewish). When I make a critical comment (as I feel I must) I am immediately stamped upon as being too ‘politically correct’. I proably am a pain in the ass but it worries me that if no-one picks them up, they will pass it on to their children. In the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy in London last week, an upper-middle class pretty student described ‘negro art’ to her mother: admittedly in terms of great admiration, but the language … !
Replying to Susan:
Behind opposition to “political correctness” is outrage that a historically marginalized group has gained enough influence and power to at least have their innate dignity and respectability recognized.
To the privileged, equality feels like oppression.
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susan sydney-smith:
December 15th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
I am really depressed at how often the term is used in the UK. I have returned from a city of cultural diversity (Preston) where it wouldn’t have come up, to Norwich, where I originally come from. It is a predominantly white population where even those seeking public office (a would-be Police Commissioner) use it freely. They tend to call all non-white people ‘coloured’. I find such uneducated use of language offensive, as a white person with an international extended family that includes by marriage, diverse ethnicities and belief systems (Black American, Fijian, Jewish). When I make a critical comment (as I feel I must) I am immediately stamped upon as being too ‘politically correct’. I proably am a pain in the ass but it worries me that if no-one picks them up, they will pass it on to their children. In the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy in London last week, an upper-middle class pretty student described ‘negro art’ to her mother: admittedly in terms of great admiration, but the language … !
Dr. JSH:
September 29th, 2020 at 8:15 pm
Replying to Susan:
Behind opposition to “political correctness” is outrage that a historically marginalized group has gained enough influence and power to at least have their innate dignity and respectability recognized.
To the privileged, equality feels like oppression.