The problem with political correctness is that it can tangle us up in knots so we end up saying things that are quite meaningless.
No better than gobbledegook, whatever that is.
This time of the year, approaching Christmas, there is a lot of focus on political correctness because it gets blamed for so many things it can get ridiculous.
The “merry’’ in Merry Christmas is a case in point.
Some people get riled up when they see the “merry’’ missing in action, replaced with “Happy Christmas’’ or “Season’s Greetings’’ or even “Happy Holidays’’, the latter gaining in usage lately.
A couple of weeks ago someone complained publicly about the nativity scene not being part of Christmas decorations in one of our shopping centres and indeed blamed political correctness for its absence.
I shop at Minto Mall and remember thinking this person needs to learn some patience because this was the middle of November and they had just started putting up Christmas decorations in the centre.
My assumption was that the nativity scene was on the way, as it in fact turned out to be the case.
I even took a photo of it to show readers of the South West Voice.
But back to political correctness: I think it’s appropriate sometimes to employ a bit of courtesy and politeness so you don’t offend or upset someone.
But of course it can also be really crazy when in a country that’s mostly of the Christian faith some of us are a bit squeamish about saying Merry Christmas in case it offends our Australian Muslim brothers and sisters.
You know what, few of them would be offended, just as we are not offended when we hear Muslims talking about their Ramadan.
None of us are that religious anyway these days that we need political correctness to protect us from getting offended.
It’s true words can be like bullets and hurt us at time, so maybe we need to remember that more than political correctness.
Merry Christmas.
