COLUMN: SWEENEY'S SIDE - Political correctness: No necessarily a fun party

The term “political correctness”—or “PC” as it is more commonly known—has an interesting and surprisingly long history. Did you know that the first documented use of the term could be dated back to 1793 in a U.S. Supreme Court decision? Since then, the term’s meaning has changed over the years, and in the 1990’s it took on the association we now know today.
When one says something is PC, they mean it is constructed in such a way that does not bring offense to a certain group, including gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, just to name a few.
The idea is to create a pleasant atmosphere for citizens, making everyone as comfortable as possible. It’s like the United States is a house hosting a really big dinner party and the hosts, that’s all of us, want everyone to relax, make themselves at home.

Thinking about it in those terms, imagine that you are hosting a dinner party and making the appropriate preparations that ensure a neat and tidy house for when company arrives.
You would presumably go about straightening things up a bit, placing books on their assigned shelves or coffee tables, neatly stacking and organizing them to achieve the desired effect. Any stray cloths that have been carelessly tossed could be next, moving them to a hamper or taking them to the laundry room for a cleaning.

You might vacuum or mop the floors, dust and wipe down the tables and lamps and adjust the pictures on the walls giving everything careful consideration, looking to achieve just the right effect.

As you are bustling about in your party preparations, something catches your eye sitting on an end table in the living room. It’s one of those leg lamps, like from the beloved holiday movie “A Christmas Story,” a woman’s leg in a high heel shoe, fish net stocking, and a gaudy shade complete with black tassels and sequins. While you think it is hilarious, you’re not sure how your guests might react. What if someone important shows up, a boss or co-worker, and he or she takes the lamp the wrong way, perhaps passing judgment on your personality or professionalism?
Not wanting to risk that kind of embarrassment, you take the lamp and move it to the basement, out of sight, just in case.

The preparations continue, more wiping things down, straightening pictures and knick-knacks and all the rest. A little while later, you happen to notice a picture sitting on the mantle from a recent family vacation. It’s one of those silly pictures where everyone is making a funny face at the camera.

You see it as a wonderful family memory, but your thoughts drift back to that lamp and the possible message it could send. You decide it is safe for the picture to join the leg lamp in the basement.
Suddenly, you start noticing other things around your house, things that you find perfectly acceptable but are worried that others might not agree. There’s piece of art hanging in the front hall, didn’t someone say the colors made them nauseous once? And there’s the Bible sitting on the coffee table, are you sure all of the guests are Christians?

These too join the others in the basement, and more items follow, pictures and books, vases and houseplants. Will someone be allergic to the dog? Basement. What about that area rug, someone might trip should the edges fold over. Basement. That picture is inappropriate, that table too low, the chair too deep and on and on and on.

Before you know it, every piece of furniture, art, family history and memento has been trucked into the basement, safe from anyone who might be hurt, physically or emotionally, by its presences. Every room has been emptied, every wall cleared, every book taken down from the shelves.

All that is left is you, standing alone in the middle of a bare house.

Then it dawns on you, what if someone finds YOU offensive? After all, you are liable to make an inappropriate remark or wear something not conducive to your guest’s attire. So many things could go wrong with you, a rude look or gesture, a joke done in poor taste.

The safest bet is to just sit in the basement, with all the other offensive material, and wait until all the guests have gone.

After all, we wouldn’t want to take a chance and offend someone. What would they think of us then?