Biased Writing 101
One of my fortes as a copy editor is removing bias from writing. This includes removing the obvious, such as sexual references, cursing, innuendo, racial slurs, and thanks to the FemiNazis, gender bias. Did I say that? We will battle with flatirons. It’s on! Just kidding—I’m a peaceful person—can’t we all just get along? (I just like to whine that phrase.)
Removing bias is amusing to me because I’m not terribly politically correct. I lean way to the right for starters; I’m fiscally conservative, and I’m certainly not all about Women’s Lib. Call me old fashioned, but I call it practical. I like it when doors are held open for me. I like it when expensive sparkly things are given to me, and chairs are pulled out for me, and when I stand up, I like it when men stand up for me. I like wearing high heels and getting my nails done and being affectionately called “sweetheart.” So, let me get this straight, I’m supposed to trade those things in (and be offended by some of those things) so that I can…. work all day…. vote….join the military…play organized sports… I fail to see the upside here. I want more sparkly shiny things!!! Oh, wait, that wasn’t where I was going. Shiny… distracted….politically correct…
Politically Correct Terms, Type I
So, like I was saying, political correctness… I was recently looking up a politically incorrect term on the Internet, and I found a Web site that listed almost 1,000 racial slurs. That’s right. One thousand. Now, I consider myself fairly well educated when it comes to racial slur knowledge, even ones that, according to many, are no longer considered racial slurs (as they have been used for so long, they have actually become customary). I am also racial slur-savvy regarding international slurs; terms only heard abroad. But this—this list was truly mesmerizing. I had absolutely no idea how inventive people could be. Most were newly created, and there appears to be no end to a person’s need to refer to someone’s ethnicity—negatively or otherwise.
In editing, there are “politically correct” terms, but the safest route is to refrain from referring to a person’s ethnicity at all unless it is an essential element of the article, story, research paper, etc. For example, you wouldn’t say, “The black man purchased the vehicle for $4,000.” Unless there was a specific reason that the reader needed to be informed that the purchaser was African American (we’re swinging back to “black” as the preferred ethnic term, just so you know). You would simply say “The man purchased the vehicle for $4,000.” Better still, “The customer purchased the vehicle for $4,000.” Why? Because you wouldn’t say, “The white man purchased the vehicle for $4,000.” If you wouldn’t logically substitute any ethnicity, gender, age, etc., the odds are that you shouldn’t be including it in your writing at all. Now, I’m seeing your eyes roll. And I’ll tell you what I tell my kids, “Knock it off.” (We will talk about the origin of that phrase in another blog, yes?) The point is, you need not struggle with all these ridiculous political correct terms if you make an effort to stop being an ignoramus in the first place. You don’t need to look online to find the politically correct term for “Mexican,” when what you really need to do, 9 times out of every 10, is to abstain from referring to race at all. After all, why would you? Why struggle when deciding between “differently abled” and “challenged,” while looking for a suitable substitute for “blind,” unless it really is necessary to draw attention to a person’s ability (or lack of) in the first place? The problem is that it was customary at one time—it was acceptable to specify race, gender, age, etc., and now it is just a bad habit that is harder to shake than smoking is. (At least with smoking, you understand it can kill you, and hence put more effort into breaking the habit.) As such, we’ve tried to put a bandage on it by putting nicer names to it. How about not naming it, because it isn’t important? Covering it up with a nicer name still draws attention to and divides groups of people. Now you just do it nicely. Kudos. [Me patting you on the head.]
Now, don’t go getting all in a huff, thinking about how often you’ve done that very thing and that that means I don’t approve of your verbiage. You are but a victim of your parents and grandparents. Someone later attempted to patch this problem that they created, only they fell short. The politically correct terminology is necessary in some circumstances, but only where it is absolutely necessary to refer to one’s race or one’s ability. However, we have used it instead to mask a problem that was created long ago, and unfortunately, masking the snowball doesn’t stop it from rolling (and I can still tell it’s a snowball).
NOW, onto the second type of political correctness: I’ve said my piece on PC terms regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and ability. These are things that a person is, without choice. Most of the time, to distinguish a person by race or gender or age is unimportant to what is being discussed in any piece, and if for no other reason than it is superfluous, it should be left out of any work. BUT, you will notice I affectionately used the term FemiNazi. Of course, I use other disparaging remarks that are horribly PiC (that’s my acronym for politically incorrect). What’s the difference, you ask? Well, the difference is that when I use PiC terms, a) it’s purposeful and therefore not ignorant (spiteful and rude, but not ignorant) b) it’s necessary for the purpose of the piece being written, and c) it’s a term used to describe a person or a group of people who are in that group by choice, not simply because they “are.” You see the difference? Of course, as an editor, I will most certainly cut out all purposeful and nonethnic, nongender PiC terms as well, but usually the writer will send a note back telling me they purposefully put it in (when you say, “liberal blood-sucking pigs,” which was actually in something I edited once, you can guess that the writer knew beforehand that it wasn’t politically correct to say so). It isn’t nice for sure, but that group can take being picked on, since they chose to be “liberal blood-sucking pigs.” (Not my words, by the way.) And yeah, that’s the way it is.
PEACE OUT
- Juli Geiger
