If This Offends You, Please Tell Your Friends
You're probably going to call me names. You might even stop reading my stuff or, the horror, unfollow me on Twitter. But this is something I feel compelled to say.
As my friend Mark Story rather vehemently pointed out on his blog, lots of (mostly) women (we assume) raised a stink yesterday over the naming of Apple's iPad. Apparently women (which I find ironic) have a one-track mind and think Apple's newest toy is an obvious feminism slight because it makes people think of tampons. Strange that men didn't point this out, don't you think? I don't think of tampons ... umm ... ever. If it makes you think of one, then you've got one on your mind for other reasons.
Bigger than the iTampon kerfuffle, though, I wish the PC police for each maligned special-interest group would realize one important fact when they scream loudly about the injustices of the world: It only makes those unlike you not like you more.
I had the unfortunate experience (though it turned out productive) of being attacked and minimized by a feminist because I made a reference to Las Vegas being a place that has Showgirls and strip joints. I framed it in the context of a joke which she obviously didn't find funny. Self-righteous and certainly well within her rights to call me out and shake a finger at me, the woman accomplished three primary things with her reaction: She convinced me that I should think hard about the implications of my humor. She proved to the world that she has no sense of humor. She made the vast majority of the people who witnessed her tirade really, really not like feminists.
She won the battle, but perhaps hurt the chances of winning the war. (If there is such a thing.)
Political correctness is nothing more than condescending thought police forcing people into group think. I'm not defending sexism, racism or other forms of intolerance. Yes, I know that racist and sexist jokes can proliferate stereotypes and have a subtle negative effect on the overall health of a community. But to borrow the truth-in-comedy musings of Chris Rock, the thought isn't the problem. The context is.
The fact that Apple named their gadget an iPad isn't offensive. If they had dressed it up in pink, unveiled it from Steve Jobs's crotch and perhaps included a string hanging off it ... that's offensive.
Rock's routine talks about context of using the "N" word. While his routine is funny, it's true. People use the "N" word all the time. In context (none that I can support, but in the African-American culture, it's different and not my business) the "N" word is appropriate and doesn't offend.
The point I'm hoping to make is that you need to be offended at the context, not the act, the word or the name. And if you decide to let assumptions and superficiality dictate how loud you scream about how anti-women, anti-race, anti-religious group or anti-PETA (sorry, had to) the world is, the only real point you're making is that you simply don't get it.
