A drunkard has a "drinking problem", a retarded person is "mentally challenged", a handicapped person is "phsycially challenged", a murder suspect is "a person of interest", a impotant man was just that impotant , now he has "erectile disfunction" . Fancy words don't make the condition any more desirable.
2006-10-07 05:02:56 · 5 answers · asked by reallyfedup 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
ask the political correct pinheads. P.C. is the leading cause of the loss of translation of the truth. if someone is just too sensitive they probably should become a monk and hide away. this is the real world, and we have the right to freedom of speech, and insults are part of that like it or not. if that bothers you put a helmet on.
2006-10-07 05:06:46 · answer #1 · answered by Work In Progress 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Everyone has some type of character flaw. You're right, fancy terms don't make the condition more desirable but they are designed to be "politically correct", which is a more polite way to describe someone's condition in order to avoid hurting their feeling or making you seem insensitive to them. I was addicted to prescription medication and someone once called me a "junkie". That hurt right down to the bone. It sounded so final and nonescapable. Even "addict" was horrible. "Drug problem", now that I could cope with. Now it was a problem and problems can be solved. Look at the terms you used, problem, challenged, disfunction. Souds like something that can be dealt with and not just an unnescapable label. Hope this answers your question.
2006-10-07 05:19:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bottom line is marketing.
A good example is the pharma industry, who spend billions in advertising their products via TV ads.
A good example would be manic depression, a condition in which many people suffer from that offers many different expensive drugs that can treat it. The condition was rebranded as Bipolar Disorder, which is a much more palatable name for condition that the patient can identify with. In confronting ones condition, no one wants to be labeled with "depression" where a disorder, points to something wrong that we can fix. The idea being that the marketing makes people feel more comfortable, where they are more akin to receiving treatment and getting drugs prescribed. This is not necessarily a bad thing, where drugs can really help people.
Before the late 90's, physicians would prescribe "anti-depressants", nowadays, you may leave a physicians office with a prescription for an "SSRI" (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) which provides far less of a stigma than the latter.
All these terms are derived to make you feel better about yourself than the historically negative term that it replaced. As long as there is something wrong with you, there will be a company that will sell you something that will fix it and make a profit.
2006-10-07 05:25:12 · answer #3 · answered by Altruist 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
True.... its being politically correct. Its a recent Fad in society. Bigger fancier words just make other people fell stupid. The problem lies in decyphering the meaning behind the words, and trying to convey a message or perspective. Lets not get caught up in the words. I didn't really answer your question, because it was more like a rant and I wanted to join in. Thanks for the 2 pts
~Cheers
2006-10-07 05:06:49 · answer #4 · answered by Dante 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, but we live in a world where people think that you need to be pc. I just recently had my phone shut off and am now online through a "dry loop" which used to be referred to as "naked DSL". They changed it because the word naked wasn't pc and was somehow offensive.
2006-10-07 05:06:38 · answer #5 · answered by Amangela 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋