P. C. Gone Wild?

In today's world being Politically Correct is extremely important, so you do not offend anyone, but it has gone too far. People talk about it all the time, but it's true. The need to find correct ways to label someone, is just furthering the need to label them. My suite mate moved to America from Ukraine when she was 10 years old. She calls herself Russian, speaks fluent Russian (often at 8am when everyone else is trying to sleep), and always talks about loving Russia. So therefore, I affectionately call her my little "ruskie." She doesn't care, and in fact finds it funny. She calls me Yankee-doodle-dandy and whatever else. Well today I was talking to someone and got overheard and some random person felt the need to talk to me like I was four years old for using the term "ruskie." I didn't even know for sure if that was a real word. Then as I thought it over in my mind the madder I got. This whole drive to be perfect in the labeling of people is so stupid.

Maybe I'm just one of those people who never gets offended and should be more sensitive to the needs of others, but it drives me crazy. I call people from all different diversities my friends, and at the same time I have no problem with jokes pertaining to demographics. I have blond hair (sometimes) and I don't care about blond jokes. They are just jokes. I don't care when people call me "gringa" or whatever else. If people would learn to not care and get so uptight, people would learn to not be so stupid. It was once said that laughter is the best medicine of all (don't ask me who said it that one time because I have no idea, maybe Doctor Seuss) and it's true. When you are not so uptight about something then it gets less and less pressure. Just relax and realize people aren't being mean to you, they are just trying to have fun with you. Smile back and make up a joke about them. If they call you a ruskie, call them yankee doodle dandy.

There is a difference between joking and being discriminatory, and that is important. You should not go around saying things just to hurt people, but at the same time you should not have to walk on eggshells about every time you say something. One of the examples which irritates me the most is when books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are kept out of public libraries due to the racist language. If you're really deeply offended by the vocabulary of the time...don't read the book, but don't take it away form everyone else. Do NOT use the language in the book, but Twain wasn't being a racist, he was just using the vernacular of the time and place.

There is a list (http://www.languagemonitor.com/wst_page20.html) which shows the most banned words of the day, and they are ridiculous. I know plenty of people who aren't Christian, and do not care that the date is A.D. instead of C.E. If you have a problem with A.D. you should have a problem with the current calendar because it was set up by a CHRISTIAN MONK. Stop it, people are being nit picky. Back home, our only building big enough to hold a graduation of 500 persons or more was in a non-denominational church. It got banned in 2006 because some guy complained they were forcing religion on him....yet his son still went to the Baccalaureate Mass. He just did it for the attention of proving how politically incorrect we were. STOP IT. Realize being practical or having a sense of humor does not make you a tyrant!