There's a Little African American Spot on the sun today

I posted about this in my other blog, but since this is the place that I expound safely on my random thoughts I will go into it a bit more because it is interesting to me.

My son was joking when he changed the 'King of Pain' lyrics by Sting (that begins by 'There's a little black spot on the sun today.') Obviously this use of the word 'black' isn't inappropriate and needn't be replaced with anything, but the sense of taboo bleeds from the other use via the word 'black' itself, divorced of the other context in which it is used in a questionable manner.

I think it speaks to what people are doing when they replace so-called insensitive language with euphemism. The language or word itself, and saying it, becomes the performative or taboo act. There is very little thought to actual thoughts of racism, injustice, or just plain bad feelings that people harbor one another.

In church the other day a woman was reading a letter from her son that was on a mission in Africa, and in refering to the black Africans, called them African Americans. Which is absurd, but what else are people going to do when every syllable is scrutinized for ill will?

This extends beyond racism. Many times when people have bad feelings toward each other, the actual behavior or outward signs of it become the focus and the most important thing. I feel this is unfortunate because it actually encourages people to not ever actually consider just addressing and replacing those bad feelings. Most of their focus is checking their outward behavior toward that person, probably for the benefit of third parties and how they themselves are perceived. Real change, real attempts at improving the goodwill expressed one person toward another, are very rare. And because of all the fuss about words or deeds, they aren't what most people address even in the behavior of others.

And those attempts at inward introspection and change are certainly not encouraged by the notion of politically correct speech. In fact in my opinion the accusations of such these days, when clearly made in contexts where there is no actual racism, are in themselves a sign of bad will and hostility from those who level the accusations, and certainly opportunism for political purposes.

This also relates to Obama's slip. The notion of racial or gender insensitivity has been conceived and nurtured as an attack against conservatives, so it is very rarely that anyone will bring it up when a liberal slips, and when they do, they want to get out of it by default. Obama wants very much to say hey, I am the good guy (by definition because I am a liberal). And I think a lot of people want to say that on his behalf, because again, the charge is really only leveled when it can be useful against conservatives. I am quite certain that if there weren't still a primary contest it wouldn't have ever become a story.

But that doesn't work when the words themselves, and not the meaning behind them, become the focus of criticism by opportunistic detractors.