P.C. Discrimination

What is political correctness? The Merriam-Webster's online dictionary says: "conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated"

Today's society demands that everything within the public domain be just this; P.C. Anti-discrimination laws and guidelines have been put in place at an alarming rate over the recent history of the world, requiring 'equal opportunity' forms to be filled in, and quotas to be met- however, isn't it just as discriminating for employers to hire, for example, x number of Caucasian workers and y number of Asian workers? Does this not put more emphasis on hiring according to race and gender? True equal opportunity is not taking such factors into account, instead looking only at each candidate's previous experience and ability.

On a similar note, back in 2005 I had the opportunity to see Blaustein's The Ringer along with my brother's Special Olympics Gymnastics team and their families. The range of reactions within the cinema to the comedy was astounding- within our group there were family members laughing uncontrollably at the disabled actors- not because of their disabilities, but rather because they were being funny. However, in the same screen, there were audience members who hadn't met or known anyone with a special ability who were sitting there horrified by what they saw because you "can't laugh at a disabled person. Period." Is that not just as insulting, though? If a 'regular' person had spoken one of those lines, or acted in a specific way its okay to laugh, but not if they're disabled?

Positive discrimination is an oxymoron- the definition of discrimination is "unfair treatment of one person or group, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnicity, age, religion, or gender" which is firmly in the negative. Therefore, technically... so called 'positive discrimination' is not in itself Politically Correct.

Personally, I believe the perfect summation for this issue is presented in Lopez and Marx's Broadway show Avenue Q:



Written badly by Naomi Wong