How Political Correctness Rules Our Lives

Language is very important; it is the means which humans use to convey ideas to one another. With that in mind some people ask me why I am so against constricting language within the rules of political correctness. After all words can mean different things and it is important not to misrepresent something or offend someone by accident. Well here is my reason. Politically correct language is full of pointless euphemisms and alterations which not only make it painstakingly difficult to understand but also very difficult to actually use. Some people are politically incorrect because they do not have the intellectual capacity to be politically correct! And some people actually don't know that certain words are considered "tabu" and they get in trouble for it! Also, political correctness makes the language soft and completely non-aggressive. And everyone knows, the language makes the people as much as the people make the language. Why else would regimes throughout history take such care to relabel and redefine so many words! In school these days children don't play tag - they play "circle of friends"! And no more tug of war - it's "tug of peace" now!
The reason I write on this subject is because I have recently heard one of Agatha Christie's great books has been renamed a number of times for political correctness reasons! First published as Ten Little Niggers in 1939 it was later re-christened Ten Little Indians and then finally And Then There Were None. The main rhyme in the novel is of course now known as Ten Little Soldiers... In our times not only are racist weirdoes not allowed to talk how they wish, but the same gag is also placed on the world's greatest minds...

And this really brings to mind a quote from the immortal (he wouldn't use that word!) George Carlin: There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those words in and of themselves. They're only words. It's the context that counts. It's the user. It's the intention behind the words that makes them good or bad. The words are completely neutral. The words are innocent. I get tired of people talking about bad words and bad language. It's the context that makes them good or bad.
Of course in Agatha Christie's Britain there was nothing wrong with the word now referred to as "the N word", just like not long ago there was nothing wrong with the word "Indian". But times have changed...