Political Correctness and Colorblindness (Ch. 7)

This chapter about political correctness hit me in a sense that I should really pay attention to what I say and whom I say it to. Something that we must remember as communicators is that language is never static, meaning that words are never "JUST" words, but rather they are a way of building and shaping our social realities. The point of when we speak is to be both compassionate and accountable, so we can grow to be increasingly aware and knowledgable about the effects of our words on ourselves and others. There are everyday dismissals of language, especially when it comes to race, gender and sexuality. These are known as cultural shortcuts, or better known as political correctness (PC). Political correctness can also lead us to colorblindness. Which in a sense, is still racism. Let's take a look farther into political correctness, and the myths about it. 

As I said already, political correctness is a shortcut. But, it's also a way of arguing someones perspective we don't share, trying to make them seem more authentic. This also is known as a trope. A trope is a figure of speech that stands in for or condenses meanings and assumptions without a very complicated understanding of them. In other words, people use this term as a way to call someone out for his/her language choices, to claim that a term is being overly polite so that the person can seem politically savvy and making the right choice. This basically leads to what political correctness is about: LAZINESS! By citing political correctness falsely, it renders speech as being neutral, a seemingly transparent representation of something real. Remember, culture and language never stays static, we must imagine and conceive how our world changes. As Paulo Freire put it: "Changing language is part of the process of changing the world." 

When we think of colorblindness, we think that we perceive things as black and white. Well, it's pretty true. As Ruth Frankenberg states colorblindness, she says that it's color evasiveness. Meaning, when we try to be colorblind, we are not blind and unable to see race, rather, we're evading the topic and the implications of race. This also reproduces racism within society. By someone saying that they don't believe in racism and are colorblind, they are basically saying that they can ignore the topic of racism. For example, white people can afford to say that they are colorblind, but don't have a clue what it is to be in a black women/man's shoes. This reproduction of color evasiveness makes us avoid the effects and influences race has on culture. Color evasiveness is also better known as power evasion. Power evasion makes us choose not to see ways power is at play at a given moment, but to also avoid history and its effects. Overall, colorblindness is a form of speech that makes it harder to achieve equality for all.