My perspective on our society

Here’s a column from over a decade ago that is just as relevant now as it was then. Enjoy!

This society goes to great lengths to label people and then cringes when some of those labels are used. We have liberals and conservatives, Catholics and Protestants, blacks and whites, sports and commercial fishers, trophy and meat hunters, non-hunters and anti-hunters, animal rights and animal welfare types to name a few. Yet all these people are just people and most belong to more than one of these pigeonholed categories.

So, what’s the burr under my saddle this time? “Political Correctness” that’s what! I was recently accused of being “culturally insensitive” by a person who overheard me telling a story to a friend. I was attempting to make a point about regionally different views in this country.

Here’s the story I told. If you are “politically correct,” skip the next paragraph.

Back in the seventies, I drove out to Texas to visit my brother, stationed at Fort Hood with an artillery battalion. One of his fellow officers and good friends was an umpteenth-generation Texan. This guy was telling me one day how, after he finished his military career, he was joining the US Border Patrol so he could “kill wetbacks,” (these were his words) just as his father and grandfather before him had done. He honestly felt he would be doing a service to his state and country by rigorously enforcing immigration laws.

I was a little startled at his frankness and the gravity of his statement, but I figured he knew Texas and the accepted standards better than I did. I had been in Texas for about 48 hours at this point. Putting his comments in the context of our discussion, I don’t think he meant murder. He was saying he would not compromise the law or back down if threatened, and if that meant using lethal force, he was ready.

The eavesdropper focused on the word “wetback” and ignored the rest, including my point about the significant social differences between Texas and Alaska regarding immigrants (which almost all of us are in Alaska), their contributions and the problems they may have caused.

Our schools are teaching the idea of tolerance. Our politicians are telling us to respect the minorities in our midst. Both stress the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. These are all good things, if practiced with the judicious application of common sense.

For instance, tolerating a criminal activity, such as your neighbor illegally killing a moose and sneaking it home, is wrong. Allowing a special wildlife resource allocation to a minority group just because they are a minority is unfair. Yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater is illegal. There are practical limits to these things – the obvious first one being the infringement of my rights so you can have yours.

Society today has sunk to the level where everybody is afraid they might upset someone else if the “wrong” choice of words is used in a discussion. You will not hear the term “cripple” used anymore – the person is either physically challenged, handicapped, or disabled. You rarely hear the racially descriptive word “black” anymore; the term of choice is “African-American.” Yet, when I fill out a form and my race is asked, I am usually given one option: “white.”

We don’t have “fat” people anymore; the proper term is “obese.” People don’t get “old;” they become seniors. You see my point.

Now, before you judge me to be a total Neanderthal (there I go again), I agree that some labels convey a negative connotation and, when said with an “attitude,” are demeaning and hateful. We don’t need that in any discussion where a meaningful exchange of ideas is being attempted.

Maybe I’m “old school,” but I don’t have a problem with most labels if they are used to identify a thought, ideology, specific group, or political position, but not a person, and are not used as a put-down or slur. If we really want to have a meaningful discussion, we need to really listen to what is being said, not just the words being used to say it.

If you are offended to hear that I am an old, fat, slightly crippled white guy, that is your problem, not mine. If you prefer referencing me as an obese senior who has a permanent, partial disability and is a male of European–American descent, have at it. Just remember to throw my name in there somewhere, so I know you’re talking to me, okay! Oh, and please keep your comments civil!