Welcome the day

I don’t always welcome the day with a smile. But with practice and patience perhaps someday I can. What’s more I can attempt to rise above the bitter tides of negativity and ignorance with a smile.

This Week

This week in the United States there’s been a renewed effort by many who were offended to find “assholes” in their midst. The word asshole has been used by members of the Tea Party, many Democrats and Republicans, the media, etc. It’s been said to limit the political ideas and policies of these folks and call them “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.” As political correctness continues to threaten the psyche of all, to question the opinions of these deranged, prejudiced, egomaniacal-yet-totally-trying-to-make-a-political-point, humorless beasts becomes “insulting.” (There is no mention of racism in this post, but it is undoubtedly related in its growth.)

Targeting Words

Apparently, whenever a word (or a phrase, or a picture, or a web site) even more people are continuing to claim that they’ve been “targeted” and that others are now doing this “to them” and that they’re at risk.

These folks claim to be victims. That they’re being persecuted. That if it’s not “I don’t like it,” then it must be an attack against them. That they must fight back and prove that they’re the victims and the “insulting” picture must not be allowed to pass.

Really?

Are you going to die from a pinprick? Are you going to die from just being exposed to a pinprick? If a pinprick isn’t dangerous, perhaps you should be allowed to enjoy it.

And it goes on like that. It would seem that unless the words “offend” or “trigger” is used, there’s no need to be upset.

Oh yes, we need to have a discussion about the language we use. If you have an issue with the words asshole or nasty, then maybe you should change how you say it to a stranger on the street. That will certainly be the best solution for the “language police.”

Rational Response Squad

I love the following response on the Rational Response Squad:

The word “jackass” was at one time as common as the word “dickhead,” but never more so than after the national PC movement in which the word “jerk” took over the vernacular. One could even say that the word “jerk” became so despised that it was only acceptable to use it to make people feel superior to anyone who dared use the more toxic word. And today, thanks to politically correct morons, the word “jerk” would likely become as verboten as the word “asshole” today.

I REPEAT (second verse same as the first) 🙂
The word “jackass” was at one time as common as the word “dickhead,” but never more so than after the national PC movement in which the word “jerk” took over the vernacular. One could even say that the word “jerk” became so despised that it was only acceptable to use it to make people feel superior to anyone who dared use the more toxic word. And today, thanks to politically correct morons, the word “jerk” would likely become as verboten as the word “asshole” today.

Despising Words

The word “jerk” was now so despised that people didn’t even use the word for their own babies. So, it was replaced by the offensive “crapien”—which actually reminds me of the “crapivy” or does it?

Today, only “jerk” remains as an acceptable term for the reaction people have to what they consider to be the bland, prissy, arrogant and phony faux-macho “jerk.”

It’s absolutely pathetic. How pathetic? The level of “liberal” (big surprise here) condescension and self-righteousness here is phenomenal. They now think that people must police themselves, that language must be policed. That those who wish to use the word, in any way, shape or form, are trying to intimidate them, or worse, so that they won’t have to deal with that “offensive” word anymore.

• This isn’t about feelings.
• This is about people’s lives.
• This is about the human condition.
• This is about the words that people write, speak, and think.
• This is about feelings.
• This is about the people who live it.
• This is about the powerful weapon that language provides us.
• This is about freedom
• This is about civil liberty.
• This is about the constant evolution of the language.
• This is about the true genius of the human species.

In one day, my usage of the word jerk became so awful that it was “offensive” to me, so I changed it to a word that nobody would understand, because I was ashamed of my own offensiveness.

In just a few short months, my use of the word as a synonym for “silly” has become “harmful” because I was concerned that others would read it and perhaps be offended.

And it’s not just me.

It’s all of us!

JERK

Joseph Kravis

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Thoughts & Ideas, Joseph Kravis 🙂

Categories: Thoughts and Ideas