Being Correct, Politically

I AM POLITICALLY CORRECT. or, in butchered German, Ich bin politically correct. Either way, its a stark, courageous confession, considering the pounding political correctness has taken in the popular culture over the past few years. It seems to have become distinctly uncool to be politically correct, as if by so doing you are supporting tyranny, abridging free speech, or succumbing to cowardice and blind conformity. Actually, the term "politically correct" is a misnomer, since most of the time a better descriptor would be "socially correct". The term "politically correct" originated in the famous little red book of Mao, in which he laid out the characteristics of a good Chinese communist revolutionary. Political correctness was simply being a good Chinese communist revolutionary. Liberals in the fifties and sixties coopted the term to jokingly refer to any among their ilk who did not conform completely to liberal values. When the expression made its way into the popular culture in the nineteen eighties, it came to mean behaving in such a way so as to totally avoid any trace of disrespect or even the appearance of giving offense to anyone, particularly minorities. When it got out of hand, when the fear of giving offense and the verbal acrobatics become too extreme, convoluted and bizarre, P.C. lost favor, and become the object of ridicule, a state in which it exists today. At its core, political correctness is nothing other than courtesy and respect. We who are politically correct assiduously avoid the "N" word, and all other terms degrading to minorities, such as "spic", "kike", "queer", dego"...the list is lengthy, and goes on and on. When even the slightest trace of any reference to a person's ethnicity becomes taboo, political correctness has gotten out of hand. I use the terms "sir" and "ma'am" to address just about everybody, including young children. I figure, give 'em a good example early; maybe they'll emulate it as they mature. Why not? Also, terms like "broad" I avoid. "Lady" is always safe. Just basic respect for people, the kind I think should be universal. I like to listen to baseball on the radio, a habit I picked up in the sixties, when I was a kid. I love to listen to the announcers, and form a mental picture of the action on the field. Part of that process entails, of course, forming a mental image of the players themselves - including their skin color. If you happen to know whether a person is African-american or European-American, and this knowledge helps form your mental image, you are not, it seems to me, being politically correct; you are merely being visually accurate. however, there is no way to listen to the radio and know what "race" (sorry to use that horrible term, fellow P.C.s) a player is, unless you have seen him before, in person, or on TV. The radio announcers never mention it. Ever. Its like there's some hard, fast, inviolable political correctness based rule against describing a player according to his ethnicity on radio. That, to me, seems an example of political correctness run amok in the general culture. Political correctness is intended to eliminate disrespectful, insulting ethnic references, not references to ethnicity, or ethnicity itself. Let's keep being politically correct, as far as common courtesy goes, but let's keep it sane, nome sane?