I would like to be clear in that I am in no way against the core tenants of politically correct culture and a move towards equality in all aspects of our lives; however, there are situations in which the semantics of language cause us to stumble backward. Many people get hung up on the nuances of new terms and ignore the roots of the problem. Even if everyone uses up-to-date politically correct terminology that in and of itself does not eliminate discrimination, further action needs to be taken. The goal of the PC movement is to make disrespecting another person based on their heritage, culture, or any aspect of their base person unacceptable. We need this goal in order to solidify what we are trying to do and unify people in order to get it done. This has been and will continue to be a difficult process. If it were easy to change everyone’s opinions and eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia, and the like then hatred would have been eliminated a long time ago, but it is difficult. There are several aspects of this process that I find many people ignore despite the fact that their hearts are in the right place.

         The first involves the previous point of where the heart of any given individual lies. While word choice and phrasing are important in their own right, many people simply do not know which words are or are not acceptable. I myself recently learned of the term Latinx as a gender-neutral term for people originating from Latin American countries. I had no idea prior to learning this term that Latino/a was something that people were trying to move away from, and I assumed that those were the proper terms because Spanish is a gendered language. Upon hearing the explanation of why Latinx was more inclusive of the entirety of Latin American people I understood that it was a better term to use. However, initially, I was not told Latinx is the better term, I was merely told that I was wrong to use the term Latino/a. I, like many people, am a defensive creature and immediately felt that my person was under attack for using language that I did not even know was outdated. This kind of situation should be kept in mind when discussing changes in language with regard to civil rights. Many people do not intend to offend in their use of wrong terms, they simply use the terms they believe to be most acceptable. When the response to someone using an outdated term is indignation and anger it does two things: first, it ignores the intention behind the person’s words and whether or not they are legitimately discriminatory; second, it causes them to react negatively and more than likely take a large step away from trying to learn the proper wordage. 

The second major oversight that the PC movement makes is that these conversations are recent, incredibly complex, and individualized. There have been civil rights activists for centuries, but current discussions about the language that we use are relatively new. It takes a lot of time, effort, and intentionality to both learn the new terminology and apply it to ourselves. Many people simply do not have the energy in this hectic world to stay up to date. This is especially true because the terminology is constantly changing. What was an acceptable phrase five years ago may have been adopted by hateful people and be considered a slur now. Additionally, what terms are positive and appropriate to some members of a community may be incredibly offensive to other members of the same community. As creatures of habit, human beings need time and grace in order to change our behavior and become better, and we should all grant each other this grace.

EMU has been actively trying to mold our community to be as inclusive as possible. Most, if not all, faculty and staff have their pronouns listed somewhere, be it in their zoom handle, the directory, or as their email signature. Many students have also adopted this as a way to normalize self-expression. Steps like these are ways to slowly move towards a better world and a better relationship with those around us. However, when what should be uplifting and positive conversations become battlegrounds for belittling and ignoring others, they breed negativity. We must ensure that in the fight for equality and against discrimination we do not divide ourselves over semantics.