Political correctness a challenge to values, traditions

It's sad that we've reached a point in American society where words like Christmas, mothering and fathering are being challenged by the wackos espousing political correctness.

At PS 169 in Brooklyn, a principal named Eujin Jaela Kim went so far as to ban Santa Claus and the Pledge of Allegiance, telling staff members to "be sensitive of the diversity of our families" and that not all children celebrate the same holiday.

Last month she replaced "Harvest festival" for Thanksgiving, and then substituted "winter celebrations" for Christmas parties at the school, where about 95 percent of the 1,600 kids are Asian or Hispanic.

Not only was the word Christmas forbidden, but students could not refer to angels or have a star, menorah or crescent because she said it represented a religious system.

Displays that "depict images of deities, religious figures or religious texts" were prohibited.

Thankfully, the department of education stepped in and at least told principal Kim that "Santa is considered a secular figure and is welcome," along with Christmas trees, menorahs, stars and crescents.

They did retain the school ban on deities, religious figures, and religious texts inside the school.

In a parting shot, it was reported that hundreds of parents signed a petition to remove Kim as principal.

Earlier this year, the University of New Hampshire boasted its brand of political correctness by posting a "bias-free language guide" on the school's website.

Developed by students and staff in 2013, the guide failed to attract attention until it was picked up by a conservative news site called Campus Reform and it spread to news outlets.

The intent was to offer the guide as a resource to create an inclusive, diverse and equitable community.

It was meant to be a "starting point" to encourage critical thinking about terms commonly used in conversation and writing.

What it did was stir a segment of society who believe in American values and heritage.

The "problematic" terms warned about included:

American: This was considered problematic because it "assumes the U.S. is the only country inside (the continents of North and South America)." The guide recommended using the less offensive terms like "U.S. citizen" or "Resident of the U.S."

Healthy: The guide said this word was problematic because it is biased against those whom we used to call "handicapped" (the new, preferred term is "person who is wheelchair mobile"). Instead of healthy, we should now say "nondisabled."

Poor: It is no longer PC to call someone "poor." Instead, we should adopt the phrase "person who lacks advantages that others have" or "low economic status related to a person's education, occupation and income." The word "rich" was also taboo; it suggested using "person of material wealth."

Terms like "mothering, "fathering," "elders" and even "mailman" and "manpower" were also on the PC hit list.

Just as PS 169 rose up against their principal, the voices of reason trumped the PC forces and the school removed the guide from its website.

Although these two attempts fell short, expect the PC challengers to America's heritage and historic ideals to become more numerous and focused.

By JIM ZBICK | tneditor@tnonline.com