Kathrin Spoerr of “Die Welt” elaborates about the use of terms ascribed to minorities and the political correctness or incorrectness inherent in them. She takes the example of one of her daughters, who disguises herself in the kindergarten as Gypsy, for a project about different children from the world. The teacher of the catholic kindergarten gets problem with her supervisor, when designating the children as “Zigneuner”, which the supervisor sees as politically incorrect. For Spoerr, the use of the term itself isn’t the problem, but the intention of how it is used. When persons, children or adults, use terms for ethnic groups and use them in connection with pejorative, negative attributions, the term becomes a negative meaning. Spoerr therefore pleads for less political correctness and more intelligence and reflection, when talking about other people, no matter of what origin.

Source:

• Spoerr, Kathrin (2013) Das darf man doch nicht sagen! In: Die Zeit vom 31.1.2013.

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