Everyone's a little bit racist
I'm sick of being politically correct.
Screw it. Seriously. I got the big paper for my old testament class back tonight, and it was an 89, which I guess I can live with, but I know I would've had at least an A- if it wasn't for my teacher's stupid requirement to be politically correct. In the syllabus, it says:
Regardless of our perspectives on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and our personal religious views, I want us all to feel welcomed and to be included in the experience of this class. To this end, I will strongly encourage the use of inclusive language to describe humanity (that is, "man" or "men" will be understood to refer to male humans only, and "humankind," "humans," or "people" will be used to refer to human beings in general).
So, to make a long story short, I used variations on the singular "man" several times throughout the paper, and she gave me this note at the top of one of the pages:
Haven't I driven home the point, yet, that "man" is not an acceptable term for "humanity" in this course? Re-read the syllabus.
Additionally, in the final comments at the end of the paper she included this gem:
...and the language problems (which indicate great carelessness on your part, since I've repeatedly warned the class about such imprecise language) cost you.
That's a load of crap. I actually paid attention in this class (more than most people), and she never once after the first day mentioned her "strongly encouraged" law about being gender inclusive. And you know what? I wish I could say I could care less right here, but I can't. Her making these statements about my academic work is just as careless as the actions that she is accusing me of. I'm basically pissed at her, and I'm just gonna ace the final in that class and tell her I did it for all of mankind and that she needs to find a man.
And all of this goes back to being politically correct. We try so hard to not offend anyone, to make sure we say "African Americans" and "humankind", but I'm tired of it. I'm gonna say what I want to say. Now this doesn't mean that I'm gonna go around raving about how the Japs are taking our jobs or that a woman's place is in the home, but I'm not going to worry so much about placating everyone. I might (gasp) say that someone is black. Or Asian. Or Jewish. And frankly, I wish that people wouldn't try to be pc when talking about me. Say whatever you want to say, however you think best describes me or my actions. I can take it. I just don't want to put up this front that says "I want everyone to be happy" when I really don't care if some people don't like me. In fact, I'd rather there were some people that didn't like me. If everybody liked me, I'd know that I wasn't being who I really am, cause I know that there are some things about me that are plain old offensive to some people.
Man, I used to always say that there was no point in keeping a journal, because if something was worth remembering, I wouldn't need to write it down. Now I broadcast my thoughts to anyone who feels like reading. Crazy.
Peace out.
4 comments:
1. avenue Q is awesome
2. i agree with the pc-ness mostly (how it's annoying), and it used to piss me off when people said that 'man' doesn't mean 'humankind'. but here's what gets me: if 'man' means 'humankind', then 'woman' is a branch coming out of man... as in, woman is just a type of man. does that make sense? calling a black person black should be fine, because they ARE... but calling all humanity men (essentially) is wrong because it either excludes women or forces them to identify themselves as men. this implies that women are secondary to men.
3. regardless of your own opinions, it's your own fault you got docked cause she did fairly warn you. so no sympathy from me. ha.
whatever, mark if you're so upset with what they teach at belmont, you can stop paying them. private colleges can teach whatever the hell they want.
as for everything else, http://itsonlyus.blogspot.com
Just to be clear ashley, I am not bashing the role of women in the church. I am simply making the statement that you repeated: that saying man in regards to all of humanity should be a perfectly acceptable way to express this concept. whether or not you have to have a penis to be called to preach is an entirely different idea altogether.
I agree with mark on this. I myself use the term "man" when referring to all humanity when writing a timed academic essay. Sometimes when making generalizations I'll use only "she" or "her"...such as "a person can only run as much as her body will allow." I'd be willing to bet that if you had excluded the male gender she wouldn't have made a fuss about it. Or sometimes I'll use "him," or "his"... I like to mix it up and I don't think it's sexist. Frankly, I only try to incorporate both gender cases when I am trying to make a paper longer. I mean, I don't know too many girls who are offended when someone says "Hey guys!" and when someone says (and i know mark uses this phrase a lot) "hey bitches!" I usually assume that it isn't meant only for girls. Now, I understand that these phrases are colloquial and non-academic, but Mark you are right in asserting that our society is too preoccupied with being "PC." In Genesis, Adam's name in Hebrew is translated as "man," but isn't referring to simply the GENDER of man, but to HUMANITY. HUMANS. Or at least that's what my prof says, and she has a doctorate in Hebrew, so I'm just going to take a risk and believe her on this one. And I understand ashley's point about women being a branch of men...it makes sense but I think that's only one person's interpretation of it and in general, the term is meant to be all encompassing and is not meant to disclude women. Furthermore, to be quite honest, if you agree with mark's prof or not, you have to admit that this is just plain anal. If she wants to warn you about it whatever, but she shouldn't dock you points because you are not conforming to her ideology. I consider myself a feminist because I am interested in promoting (what I think are) women's rights and I'm a little annoyed that she's not putting her feminist zeal into something much more constructive. Basically I think this whole situation is really lame and I'd probably be pissed too.
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