That’s sort of where I make the distinction between actual political correctness, and what gets written off as political correctness- Is this a matter of referring to people as they asked you to, or is it going out of your way to come up with something inoffensive when nobody was offended in the first place?
Years ago, people decided that the word “deaf” was insensitive, so they started using “hearing impaired” instead. Deaf people basically said “fuck off- we’re not impaired, we just speak a different language”, and not only kept using “deaf”, but started insisting it be capitalized.
And we end up with situations where you don’t know what the “correct” term is- Most of the black people I know are offended at being called “African-American”*, even though I know there are plenty of people who feel just the opposite.
But again, it goes back to my general argument that conservatives are incapable of understanding context. They see any change to the language as unnecessary meddling, not as an overdue form of respect.
*Context: I live in a very white state, but in an area with a sizable refugee population. I also have a lot of friends who study African drumming. Most of the black people I come across are actual Africans- Either here on a work visa and not American at all, or they’re immigrants who feel like it belittles the citizenship they earned to have to put their origin before “American”.
