"Yes, and I hate upsetting people ... but I think I need to get over it!"
And therein lies part of the underlying logic of political correctness. It relies upon people's natural desire to be accepted, not to stir up controversy, to get along, etc.
Here's the deal with the devil political correctness seeks to make. If you'll tell just a little bit of a lie of omission by not calling something what it really is, by not daring to attach a moral label to it, then you won't be forced to suffer the heat or embarassment that you might incur by calling something it's proper name.
So we tell lies of omission by failing to call things what they really are. And isn't it interesting how once the language becomes morally neutral, it becomes easier to just go ahead and accept the underlying evil that the language isn't adequately describing?
Language is usually how we express thought, and often how we internalize thought. If you can successfully change the language relating to a specific subject, then what you're doing in the long run is subtly changing the way that people think about that subject.
Words have power.
Excellent post, excellent! You are absolutely right.
I'm reading a book of essays by Theodore Dalrymple, the British commentator, and he made exactly the same point in one article. We Charismatics call this "a confirmation," when we get the same message from two or more unconnected sources :-).
Words have power.
***************
Excellent post. I couldn't agree more.