Pikies, Gyppos, Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves? Is this an insult against a particular ethnic group or just a label for crooks? And if you identify with the label, what does that say about you?
The latest battle in the Political Correctness wars involves the term "Gypsy" which some people claim is a slur against "Romani Peoples." Often the people chastising us for using the term "Gypsy" are folks who are not Romani, and in fact are rather Wasp-y. Or is that a slur as well? I have a hard time keeping track.
The Romani people are a diverse ethnic group and the term "Gypsy" is based on the false assumption that they originated in Egypt. The world is full of such mis-identifications. American "Indians" have nothing to do with India, a country named after a river that is no longer within its borders.
Oddly enough, it is believed the original Romani came from India, so we come full circle.
Speaking of India, the term "thug" comes from there, named after Thugs of India who would hijack travelers and caravans, usually killing people and taking their goods and money. Today, no one in India (that I am aware of) thinks that "thug" is a slur against the general Indian population.
But for some reason, we are now being told that "Gypsy" - which is a term used to describe an itinerant band of wandering peoples involved in petty crimes - is some sort of ethnic slur. It is no way today associated with a particular ethnic group - anyone can be a gypsy today, all you have to do is the crime. Similarly, you can be a "thug" today without being from India - indeed, the thugs there died out long ago. No one considers "thug" a slur against an ethnic group, even if it was once applied to one.
So it seems odd that people are claiming "gypsy" is a slur against Romani people. By saying this, you are in fact saying that all Romani are Gypsies which itself is a slur. Or are we going down the road that some people in America are doing with Blacks (formerly African-Americans) by positing that criminality is part of the "culture" of being Black?
Let's not go there.
It reminds me of the fairly recent cooked-up "controversy" that "Midget" and "Dwarf" are slurs and that such folks preferred to be called "Little People" - the latter of which I think is more demeaning that the original terms. The whole thing stinks of Political Correctness invented by people not part of the group. As I noted before, Billy Barty founded the "Midgets of America" which was amended to the "Midgets and Dwarfs of America" before transitioning to "Little People of America." If "Midget" or "Dwarf" were slurs, well, the "Little People" didn't seem to think so, just a few decades ago.
It is akin to other names which some (mostly white people) are claiming to be slurs. "Black" is deemed a slur by some overly-sensitive Whites, but in reality is just a color. "Negro" is chastised as a slur by some (again, I think we are being trolled) but just means "Black" in Spanish and the United Negro College Fund never thought it was a slur, nor did Dr. King. "Colored People" is today considered a slur, except by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which I guess is behind the times. The Politically Correct term is "POC" or "People of Color" which like "LatinX" is a term used only by overly-sensitive Whites with a guilt complex. And some people abhor the term "LatinX" being applied to them. You know it had to be invented by a White guy.
The problem with Political Correctness is that it helps no one and actually harms everyone, particularly the Left. It makes us look stupid and ridiculous and like the "special snowflakes" the far-right accuses us of being. Why do we have to fall in line and live up to the caricature they paint us to be? Political Correctness is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic - it divides people and chastises not your enemies, but your allies.
It is akin to a lot of this talk about "pronouns" and "dead-naming" which are terms used to shame the people most allied to your cause. The far-right doesn't give a shit about your pronouns or your name and in fact delights in torturing you by calling you by the wrong name or gender because they know it will piss you off. Being super-sensitive about these things only invites bullying. The bully backs away in frustration when you laugh the loudest at his insults. He goes in for the kill - often literally - when you show sensitivity to insults. I say this from long, bitter experience.
If you tell a bully that if they call you by a particular name, you will get upset, guess what the bully is going to do? It is like putting a target on your back. You have to be thick-skinned and learn to laugh at yourself. Otherwise you are just handing your opponents all the ammunition they need to destroy you. And most humor is based on this spoofing of pride and status. Every Marx Brothers movie has the boys spoofing the high-society matron and no one feels sorry for her when she is taken down a notch.
Being Politically Correct is the ultimate form of narcissism and it merely invites abuse.
We have to stop this nonsense - all of it - now. While we are naval-gazing about the "proper" words to use, the other side has stacked the Supreme Court and the Statehouses across the country (who gerrymander the districts, insuring a majority in the House of Representatives). They also are claiming many governorships and also judicial appointments in the lower courts. We are seeing the effect of this as we try to prosecute Trump for his crimes, only to be stymied by a Trump-appointed Judge.
But hey, we all are using the right words, and that is more important, right?
The whole Political Correctness thing is backfiring in a big way and was destined to do so, as we literally think using language, which is just a collection of symbols, each representing an agreed-upon idea. Maybe you don''t think about this too much, but as Patent Attorney, this was my primary job. When drafting Patent Claims, you have to be very precise in your choice of language - and the impreciseness that most ordinary people use in everyday language is infuriating. Words matter - they represent ideas.
So when you tell people what words to use, you are literally telling them how to think, and there is inevitable push-back to this, as no one likes to be told what to do, much less what to think. Odious ideas are thus driven underground where they eventually explode later on.
The rise of the far-right, worldwide, and the re-emergence of Nazism, antisemitism, racism (did it ever leave us?), misogyny, and the like are not some unexpected phenomenon, but the natural reaction to the far-left saying, "you can't even think these things!" Because if exposed to the sterilizing light of day, such odious views quickly wither and die. In the damp, dark basement of the Internet, however, they can thrive and explode.
Political correctness accomplishes nothing. Worse than that, it often - almost always - accomplishes the exact opposite of what was intended. It serves only to bolster opponents of your ideas and only shames and turns away your allies.
Gypsy is not a slur - it describes a group of people based on their behavior, not their ethnicity. The term "thug" describes people who engage in "Thuggee" or the acts of thuggery - not an ethnic group. No one is shaming Romani people by using the term "Gypsy" and to imply that "Gypsy" is a term describing only Romani people is to say that all Romani are criminals.
And that is the real slur.
