Sometime this year, a Member of Parliament in Botswanachose‘wrong’ terminology in reference to the Bushman, the San, Basarwa, First People of the Kgalagadi, etc.
Political correctness seems to be the “in thing” worldwide yet this has negative effects on those people who want to be recognized in some other way.
I was astounded that when the MP in question reverted to the use of ‘Basarwa’, a prominent member of the tribe stated that they preferred to be called Bushman.
Only the people concerned set political correctness.
I insist that the biggest mistake by colonialists and locals was to name a country (Bechuanaland) after a tribe (Batswana).
I am not a linguist but naming a country after one tribe when there are numerous other tribes is problematic.
Oh, Dr. Thapelo Otlogetswe, where are you?
“There is nothing colloquial in the application of the term Batswana in this case and such meaning is not applied haphazardly. It is formal and not colloquial,” Dr. Otlogetswe, says. “The label Batswana in this case is not applied to any Tswana, Kalanga, Batswapong, Babirwa, Basarwa, Bayei, Hambukushu, Basubia, Baherero and Bakgalagadi people. It is applied specifically to those who are citizens of the country Botswana. In this application, no ambiguity exists.”
Come on Doc, you know this is not true! Why should Kalangas or Basarwa be called Batswana?
Political correctness is oppressive and denies us the full connotation of words ÔÇô whether good or bad; it is a diplomatic way to hide the core truth from ourselves.
In today’s politically correct world, we can’t even say “Merry Christmas” anymore; it is now considered offensive.
Wishing each other to “Have aMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year” is quietly but emphatically being replaced by the dull ‘Happy Holidays’.
We are forced to deny our Christian Holidays because it is deemed insensitive and politically incorrect since we have to consider those who buy pages and pages of newspaper space, wishing each other ‘Eid el Mubarak’, or whatever.
Christianity has conceded far too much without getting anything in return.
Christianity is prohibited in most Moslem countries, with Christians being targeted for killing by Moslems, yet mosques are sprouting all over in Christian countries.
Political correctness seems to be both a linguistic maneuver to deprive us of the real meaning of the words we want to use and a way to subjugate those of us who are Christian.
Political correctness is meant to soften the blow, so to speak, and people in other countries are waking up to the deceit simply because Islamists are hitting so-called Christian countries with deadly accuracy.
In the US, the government says it is not at war with Islam yet murders and killings committed in the name of Allah are increasing by the day.
Truth be told, whenever I hear ‘Allahu Akbar’, I know there is nomercy for me. I think only of Moslems, the Arabs, the Middle East and a jihad against my innocent self.
If the west, Christians and ‘infidels’ are not at war with Islam, the truth is that Islamists are at war with us.
We must recognize those people, things or circumstances that are a danger to us.
Look at what happens in Nigeria.
Look at the way Christians are singled out for killings in Kenya.
Look at the number of bombs exploding around the world in the name of Allah, The Merciful.
It’s happening in theaters, in parks, in stadiums, schools and on trains.
And it happened a few days ago during a ‘holiday party’ for employees of a County in California where14 people were killed and 21 others were seriously injured.
Authorities don’t even have the decency to say it was a massacre during a Christmas party.
That is political correctness; are we happy now?
And the people who committed the atrocities are, like in France a couple of weeks ago, not Islamists but ‘radicalised Islamists’.
Donald Trump, the man who is leading the Republican Party’s presidential race, is empty. He fails to articulate how he would implement programmes that he is proposing but he is leading his party’s presidential race by far.
I find the rancor that followed his use of the term ‘anchor babies’ quite amusing.
The media and the “general public” jumped into the fray, with some charging that the term is pejorative, insulting and disparaging and want it barred from public use.
The term, extracted from the 1996 archives, was coined to describe a child born in the US by noncitizens and who, as a US citizen, would later petition or sponsor the entry into the US of other family members.
The ‘anchor baby’, originally ‘anchor child’, would be a US citizen to whom all benefits and protection of a US citizen would be legally available.
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution states simply: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…”
Foreigners, of course, know that having a child who is a US citizen can open doors for their family; they, too, want the hyped freedom and opportunities in America so they take advantage of this “loophole”.
Americans have a habit of using lenient words for troublesome issues they are struggling to deal with. They try to soften the blow by changing terminology.
Thus, abortionists and those who support abortion are known by a less violent tag of ‘pro-choice’ while the issue remains unresolved.
Then, there is the greatest con game of all and it concerns the word ‘nigger’, known in the US as the ‘N-word’.
I know hypocrisy and this is the worst!
I have a problem with censorship of any kind, even altering the full meaning of an insulting or repulsive word.
Americans cannot use the ‘n-word’ even in clinical terms to educate and to provide history so that the children can understand and make decisions that favour their circumstances and times.
Yet the n-word is only discouraged, prohibited or forbidden for use by any other race but black people.
Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and other African Americans make millions using this same word that all other sections of American society are prohibited to use.
And there lies my objection.
Changing the real word to a mild ‘n-word’ hides the truth and violence behind it; the change does not make anything better.
Unless there is intent to injure, we must judge people by the choice of their words, not deny the existence of the word.
Americans are lectured about how offensive, pejorative, insulting and unacceptable the use of “anchor babies” is, yet it is real and being practiced.
The effects of anchor babies are starting a movement in the US but Americans shy away from confronting the issue head-on and that is where Donald Trump is finding his ‘popularity’.
He articulates what people really want to say; he says things people want to say but, because of political correctness, cannot.
America is bogged down by about 12 million illegals, mostly Latinos from Mexico and South America. Imagine the entire population of Zimbabwe illegally settled in one country!
Trump speaks what politicians fear to say but what many agree with. He has no answers to what he complains about (how do you deport 12 million people?) but he does not like what the ‘illegals’ are doing to his country.
Maybe he should ask Botswana.
Political correctness is causing censorship and is banishing words into unfaithful obscurity to please a few; it dangerously pacifies us when we should be on maximum alert.
