Above the Law: PC goes overboard

Hello my fellow students. This week, I have two letters for you: "PC." And I'm not talking about the Intel Inside, Pentium chip, electronic computing devices Microsoft has a monopoly on.

I am talking about being politically correct.In concept, this is a great idea. After all, no one wants to offend anyone outright, but it seems this concept has gotten way out of hand over the years.

We can no longer use the term "illegal aliens". They are now referred to as "undocumented immigrants." We are not allowed to call them "Islamic extremists" because they are now "insurgents." "Waiters" are now "servers", the "handicapped" are "exceptional children", and so forth and so on.

These are just a few examples of the madness we have to deal with on a daily basis. The consequences of using terminology that is not considered PC can range from a tongue lashing, to a physical beating, to being sued in a court of law depending on who you offend and how. This is completely ridiculous to me.

The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees us freedom of speech, but how free are we really to say anything we want? This right extends only as far as the man or woman who is within earshot. The moment our speech offends the person next to us, we will be censored.

It seems more and more people are becoming sensitive babies as the days go by, and it makes me wonder when it will finally culminate into complete and utter censorship of our right guaranteed to us by our Founding Fathers.

Yesterday's terms are taboo today, and today's words will be offensive tomorrow. Is it a means to an end, or an end to a means?

My point is this: If everyone keeps jumping on the bandwagon and making us change our speech patterns in order to maintain a level of political correctness that is absurd just to satisfy some faction of people whose feelings are on par with a small child, then what kind of a future will we truly have in regard to our capacity to form our own desired dialogues?

Eventually we will all end up walking on eggshells. All of our communication will be something that has been programmed by some force outside of ourselves. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, this issue is gaining momentum and is becoming larger and larger and is beginning to extend to other issues outside of our speech.

If you have ever read the book "1984" by George Orwell, he foreshadows a time when the government has taken all describing words out of speaking and has even dubbed it with a title. It is called "newspeak." While this is a work of fiction, it is the direction we are going.

Pay attention to the rights we are giving away, people. Question everything and make a decision for yourselves whether you like the direction we are going. If you decide that you do not, mobilize and do something about it. Take the reins and take control before we are all at the mercy of "the man".