"Politically Correct" doesn't exist

A selfie of Rachel smiling while holding
a tiny black puppy. This photo is here on
the off change you'd forgotten who is
behind this blog lol

 Welcome to the time of year when I am forced to watch the most amount of commercials of any point on the calendar.  Mostly because, when our Rays baseball team doesn't screw it up, there's an overlap of 3 pro seasons plus college football. Other than sports, pretty much everything my household watches is on a streaming service where there either aren't any commercials at all, or the algorithm chooses them based on what we've been talking about around our google devices or phones (all hail the self-selected wire tap!) so we don't always get to know about every movie being released, every drug coming to market, or every product designed to save us from our own ineptitude. Sadly, watching more network sports means commercials, and living in Florida in an election year means those commercials are less informative and more political. Thanks be to God for the mute button!

The term "politically correct" is often used to refer to terms that are new (or new-ish) that are markedly different from the former terms used to describe a certain type of person or group. Often, it's brought as a criticism of being "forced" to change terminology, or a lament of not being able to keep up with the latest "trend". While we do see long term trends in identifying language, normally the terms aren't actually new, it's just that they're finally being heard by those in power from those whom they describe.

The options for identifying another person or group are not: "politically correct", "correct", or "bigoted"; which is what it seems the complainers want us to believe is true.  They want to stick with the last version because they don't see it as wrong. But the bottom line is, there aren't three categories to this.  There is the correct way to identify a person or group (which is determined solely by the people being identified, and never by anyone outside that identity), and then there's every other way, which we should collectively call "wrong". Sticking with the old ways once you've been taught better makes you wrong, not simply outdated.

And it's not always easy to keep up. There are so many groups finally able to come forward in our current age are who are getting the chance at last to make their preferences known. So the correct terms can feel like they are changing quickly to those replacing ignorance with knowledge on so many fronts simultaneously. But that flood of change is simply the cost of privilege. Bearing that cost, and learning in gulps rather than timid sips, is a basic first step of upholding the inherent dignity of every human being.

From personal experience, the best way to start leaning is to make your social media work for you instead of just being a time suck. Start to seek out and follow individuals who are teaching about identities you don't share. While there are numerous options, for those of us in the United States, there's a few key categories I'd suggest you ensure you hit (in absolutely no particular order):

• LGBTQIA+ voices
• Black voices
• Indigenous voices
• Disabled voices
• Asian-American and Pacific Islander voices
• Latine voices
• Neurodivergent voices
• American Religious minority voices (Jewish/Muslim/Sikh/+)

And don't forget to find voices that cover multiple of those in a single person. It's not like the content is boring, because there's some overlap between any interest you might have, and someone in at least one of those identities. For example, though I cannot understand the complexity of all of their tweets, I heartily enjoy following someone who has a doctorate in astrophysics and brings their identities as a Black, Jewish, Non-binary, Queer individual to share lived experiences in the field and how it connects to the historical cultures they come from. (The parts of their posts I don't usually understand are the parts about the physics, not the parts about being a human). I also have learned so much about cultivating relationships with crows from a professor that researches cat/human behavioral interactions and identifies as a gay trans man.

People are, on a collective scale, really cool, and there's so much to find out beyond the basics of identity when you're learning to be correct and not just "politically correct". But we must start by bearing that burden of privilege and doing the listening and learning required of those who have been culturally ignorant.