The New Politically Correct Language

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


Illegal alien gang member




Nazis in London




Nazis in Iran hanging gays




Nazi in New York City



War on Terror


I thought the British couldn't be outdone when they recently began referring to Islamic terrorism as "anti-Islamic activity". Now comes the Obama Administration declaring that the war on terror will now be called "Overseas Contingency Operations"!!?? It looks like we are entering a new world of Orwellianism with the liberals running this country.

Already, schoolchildren in many American schools are coming back from school and informing their parents that St Patrick's Day is being called, "Potato Day" or Shamrock Day", as it was just labeled at the White House celebration.

For a few years now, many of us have been called to task for using the term, "Islamofascist" to describe terror carried out in the name of Islam, as well as everyday incidents of intimidation and calls for imposition of Shariah law in the West. Actually, radio talk-show host Michael Medved has it right; what we are experiencing around the world is not fascism (a rather difficult term to define), but more like Nazism-very easy to define and containing anti-Semitism at its core-as does militant Islam. I have no problem referring to Islamic terrorists and other radicals (such as we see on the streets of London damning everything about British society)as Nazis. Yes, those Muslims who are assaulting and intimidating Jews on the streets of European cities are acting like Nazis. Those who carry placards on British streets calling for the beheading of those who "insult" Islam are acting like Nazis. Those who recently demonstrated against Israel on American streets and campuses and shouted out, "Long Live Hitler" and "Jews go back to the ovens" are acting like Nazis.

Similarly, a person who is in this country illegally-or in any country illegally- is an illegal alien-not an "undocumented worker". (MS-13 gang members are not workers to begin with).

I recently wrote a piece on that insane university, the University of California at Santa Cruz, where the word "queer" has been injected into a myriad of courses and departments. Have you ever heard of "Queer Theory"? Don't take my word for it. Go to the UCSC course catalog. It's online. When I was growing up, the word "queer" was a pejorative-just like the word, "fag". Now it's in at UCSC.

Similarly, universities still use that silly term, "Chicano" to refer to Mexican-Americans. When I was growing up in Los Angeles, the word implied a young tough, not a self-respecting adult person of Mexican or Latin descent. Somehow, in the 1960s, universities fell in love with the term, and it is still used today.

In yet another example, when I was a child, polite terms for blacks were "Negroes" or "colored people". The term "Negro" has been out of favor for years now, as is "colored people". But "people of color" is in. Go figure. It is also frustrating to a lot of people of all races that as hard as we have tried to rid ourselves of the N-word, which should be dying out from simple disuse, so many young blacks are embracing the word among themselves.

What we see in the US, Canada and Europe is political correctness gone wild. First it was speech codes on our university campuses. Now it is the twisting of the English language to the point where it loses its meaning and becomes laughable. Certainly, any form of ethnic or religious epithet is unacceptable, but we should never lose the ability to call something what it is.