How much is a word worth? A whole lot when it’s used to describe gender, race, health status or other characteristics that describe human beings.

The ideology of political correctness has become a defining characteristic of what America stands for. The funny thing is that political correctness dumps the whole “melting pot” idea in favor of divisive terminology.

The politically correct movement goes way back in the United States, but became a more prevalent part of mainstream culture in the ’80s and ’90s. Television programming, from sitcoms to commercials, saw drastic changes. We didn’t want to depict people staying within their racial group; we wanted to show a world where every clique is a multi-racial rainbow. We started using new terms. Instead of “black,” we said “African-American.” Instead of “Chinese,” we said “Chinese-American.” Instead of “white,” we said … well, we said “white.”

Aha! The old “PC for me, but not for thee” idea. But I’ll get to that later.

Writer Responsibility

Recently, a Northern Star columnist took a lot of flack for her use of the word “pansy” in a column. Angry respondents said the word is highly offensive to gays, and that the dictionary’s definition of the word clearly shows that.

Of course, a columnist should always be wary of language that could be regarded as offensive. But one problem I see for us who put our reputations on the line through our words is that we have to weigh common vernacular versus PC.

To those who wrote in and many others, the word “pansy” is anything but common vernacular. There are a lot of words like that, such as the common use of the word “gay” to describe something undesirable when another word would be a far less offensive substitute. I would say the connotation of the word “pansy” is far less inflammatory than misuse of the word “gay,” however.

But that’s just me. As writers, we strive to get important points across while still engaging the reader with colorful or popular language. Yes, we should be sensitive to our readers. But beyond the aforementioned “p” word, there comes a point when I, as a writer, want to stop worrying about the endless possibilities for offense and just write what I think, in the simplest, most relatable terms.

With the proliferation of PC, we see a world where “awareness” is the only true good word. We must be aware of our differences, and show that awareness through our speech. We must treat people differently or with special care because of those differences.

OK, wait a minute … so how does this eliminate discrimination and break down stereotypes?

Quite simply, it doesn’t. One may embrace his or her heritage or gender, but when is it more of a security blanket than a simple fact of existence? PC categorizes people into nice, clean designations. It’s a vehicle for people who are so afraid of their discriminatory human nature that they need “safe” words to cushion their own consciences.

The Demonization of Choice

I can just hear it: “DISCRIMINATORY HUMAN NATURE??!! I’ll show her!!”

Yes. It’s natural to discriminate. Another word for “discriminate” is “choose.” If I prefer cats over dogs, am I discriminating against dogs? No, we would never say that. But if you socialize with people who are like yourself, all of the sudden you’re doing the dirty “d.” That doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to hate people for their intrinsic characteristics, but it’s not hateful to choose one alternative over another.

It’s definitely a great idea to make friends with people who are different from you — it would be to your detriment if you didn’t. But we shouldn’t deny that we are naturally attracted to familiar people and things.

Finding Identity in a Sea of PC

On the Random House Web site Words@Random, www.randomhouse.com/words/language/avoid_guide.html, an extensive list of un-PC words and terms tells readers how to avoid offensive language. Several sections are featured, for gender, sexual orientation, disability status, age and other categories. Words like “mankind” and “waiter” are replaced with genderless counterparts. PC substitutes are given to words like “Eskimo” and “Asiatic.”

Concerning race, careful terminology is necessary given the oppressive use of racial slurs that still continues today. But it gets to the point that we’re so focused on linguistic details and delineations that we forget the human behind the term.

One of the only good things to come out of our culture’s recent pseudo-patriotism is the embracing of our individual status as Americans. One commercial shows persons from a variety of ethnic backgrounds stating “I am an American.” So back to the inequity in PC idea. Why are whites “white,” while every other race is a (fill in the blank)-American? Why am I not a European-American?

I, and hopefully many others, broach this subject with admitted uncertainty. There’s a 10-ton can of worms that bursts open when any white person questions why PC terms are used for other races. I can hear the mad typing now: “Whites have oppressed other cultures for centuries.” I don’t want to touch that debate with a 10-foot column. Too late.

I guess what it boils down to is this: Stop being so ridiculously sensitive, and stop dwelling so much on what other people think and say. If you’re confident in your blackness, gayness, womanhood, white-maleness or whatever-ness, that should be enough for you. If you really want to change the world, educate yourself, go out into it and make changes where they really count. I’ll revert to a phrase I think to myself when I hear or see evidence of an unnecessarily bleeding heart: Go to class.