🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <P9iZoB3w164w@buscard.fidonet.org>, murph@buscard.fidonet.org (Brian Murphy) writes:
|> jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) writes:
|> > Why did you mention this?  Would you have mentioned it if it had been a "very
|> > friendly and attractive young man" who helped you?
|> 
|> <beep, Beep, BEEP!>  Look out!  Politically Correct alarm!!
|> 
|> Come on, Mr. Kamens, was it really necessary to point that out to this 
|> person who was making an honest comment?  This stifling attitude of the 
|> PC rad-Left crowd is, for me, a real turn-off.  It's oppressive, man!

That's amusing.  It's the first time anyone has ever described me as
"politically correct," and certainly the first time anyone has grouped me in
with the "rad-Left crowd."

Long before the term "PC" or the entire concept of "politically correctness"
was in vogue, there were people who were bothered by the double standard
which, for example, prompts journalists who are covering political events of
various sorts to describe in detail the clothes and appearance of all female
attendees, while not saying word one about the appearance of the males.

I do not doubt that Ron did not mean anything untoward by his description of
the clerk as "young" and "attractive."  I *do*, however, doubt that he would
have described a male clerk as "attractive," simply because I doubt that such
a description would come naturally to him in the case of males, as it appears
to come naturally to so many men when females are involved.

There is nothing wrong with describing someone as attractive.  There is,
however, something wrong (in my opinion) in describing a woman as attractive
in a context which implies that her attractiveness has something to do with
her ability to do her job, when in fact the way she looks has no correlation
at all to her ability to function.  Certainly, "friendly" clerks are better at
their jobs than grouches.  But I have yet to see any evidence that ugly clerks
can't do a job at the RMV.

Even if Ron would say the same thing about a male clerk, I don't think it's
right.  To describe someone as attractive when discussing the RMV and saying,
"Hey, they seem to be doing a good job," seems to imply, at least to me, that
the writer believes that if the RMV had hired ugly people who could do the job
just as well, something would be lacking.  I find that attitude distasteful.

|> I know, <sigh> take it to ne.politics...

If you *knew*, then why didn't you cross-post to ne.politics and direct
followups there?

-- 
Jonathan Kamens						jik@MIT.Edu
MIT Information Systems/Athena		    Moderator, news.answers
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