Word choice

2) Write an essay explaining whether you believe that efforts to eliminate sexism, racism, and violence in language are effective, or whether such effort simply mask these issues.

    Words that are “politically correct” exists because people believe that those words have the ability to raise awareness and potentially change the problems of sexism, racism, and other social prejudices; however, by removing sexist or racists words don’t remove the social injustices that prevail around the words. It just simply isn’t possible to remove biases in individuals.
    In Michio Kakutani’s essay “The Word Police” she highlights that people are too crazy about what is right to say and what isn’t. She criticizes that society is so critical of “social” norms that the simple act of cultural differentiation is looked lowly upon. It has gotten to the point where one could get publicly shunned by a “word police.” Kakutani disapproves of such behavior for the duty of a police force is to protect and serve the community but the word “police” is a disservice to the society and make minorities vulnerable to a false sense of inclusion.
    Though Frank Luntz explains that the words that people (politicians) use are crucial to how people react, he doesn’t argue against Kakutani claim that certain politically correct words are “abused.” Luntz points out that certain words convey a negative connotation that effects the efficiency of political actions even though the idea and actions taken are the same. Politicians can’t say foreign trade because foreign has a negative image in Americans so international trade is necessary to use instead. Though this against “The Word Police,” Kakutani would be disappointed in the facts that Luntz has stated.
    Similar to Luntz, Steven Pinker depicts the power of words and how people understand words differently than other. Not only is that the case, an individual identifies her own series of words differently. This example is included in Pinker’s essay where the female character in the movie Tootsie wished that guys would be more upfront about their “sexual desires,” but when the event actually occurred, the lady did not look favorably upon the situation. Pinker illustrated this as universal human hypocrisy.
    This hypocrisy is also shown in the political cartoon on Native American Mascots. The irony in the piece illustrate that even though the entire committee is for the banning of native american culture, there is a member—who knows there should be another member as well— who chooses to be a hypocrite and have a Jeep Cherokee. This cartoon also support Kakutani’s argument as well for it mocks the fact that the removal of a unique culture is flawed and doesn’t create a more unified community. The removal of cultures is unethical on one hand but it is also impractical to eliminate the history, beliefs, and practices of an ethnic group. Ideas spread quickly and the different practices of cultures can’t be removed by the thought police or the “word police.”
    Although Luntz and Pinker agree that words should be carefully chosen, Kakutani reminds that being careful of words doesn’t mean that it is right to generalize people into a large group—removing the cultural differences that exist. Careful word choices doesn’t mean changing the language. Changing the language doesn't rid the world of problems.