Same Passage for Various Audiences

Young Audience

Boy, you know, my first aeroplane ride was super exciting! I was in last week of primary school, and Father surprised me with a glassy envelope, my name on it. I opened it. It was a flight ticket from Sydney to Melbourne. Boy, I was super, super excited! I took the phone and called my friend, Jane. I had to. I mean I could not bear not to share such good news with my best friend. I told it right away; I am flying soon! Then, you know what, something terrible happened. Jane said a child must be at least 11 to fly solo. Damn it. It was disappointing. How could you not believe in Jane's talk on the flight? Her mother is a flight attendant and Jane has had a few flights already. I hurriedly told my father. “I have thought about it”, said Father. In fact, my aunt was accompanying me. Next week, I was watching the plane when it took off, flew up high above the clouds and then landed again. Boy, I was really on cloud nine.

Adult Audience

The memory of my first aeroplane ride is as vivid as it has happened yesterday. I was very keen on getting on the plane and not that much thought about the basics. When I was going through the security check, I was bewildered by the officer as asked me to take off my belt.  I was rocking a pair of loose pants, and as soon as I pulled the belt out, the pants slipped down. I hurriedly pulled it up but. I felt clumsy but it did not last long because a few minutes later I was walking through the jetway. I noticed on boarding pass that my seat was “11 A”. I found it easily. It was just behind the small window. I was watching out. Just when the plane was speeding on the runway, I felt its power and velocity, and then the takeoff. It was eleven years ago, and we landed after an hour, but all the moments are still apparent in my mind.

Differences

The major difference between these two texts is their angle of view. The first one is from a child’s point of view while the second is from an adult perspective. Their voices are different and even the language. The language of the child is more like a dialogue and a friendly, while the adult speaks about his or her own emotions and situation without direct addressing to the reader. Their focuses are also different.  The child focuses more on his own observations, but the adult expresses his feelings.

Political Correctness Against Freedom of Speech

The supporters of political correctness argue that our understanding of others is influenced by the language we use. Therefore, they encourage using non-discriminatory language to refer to different identities such as ethnicities, genders, sexual preferences, cultural backgrounds, and nationalities.

The widespread intention to avoid the harmful undertone in the language has created alternative terms for many concepts and groups of identities. For instance, the terms with prejudicial denotation such as negro and chairman are being replaced by African-American and chairperson respectively. The basic idea behind political correctness is to avoid using the derogatory terms in the public domain.

On the contrary, political correctness is being criticised by many others as an “attempt to artificially manipulate language use for a social goal” (Hale & Basides, 2013, p. 77). The opponents of political correctness argue that political correctness has nothing to do with the reality of life and it is merely a tool at the hands of those seeking power. They argue that using alternative terms only euphemise the harsh realities and manipulate the use of language. Therefore, political correctness has utilised in favour of power rather than in avoiding discrimination.

The ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott is slammed by Fairfax Media contributor, David Campbell, criticising Abbott’s double standard towards freedom of speech. Abbott has announced that if people like the freedom of speech and don not like political correctness, they should vote no to same-sex marriage. Campbell emphasises on the vagueness of political correctness and objects that in another case Abbot had ignored the freedom of speech of Yassmin Abdel-Magied. This shows that political correctness can be easily utilised as a tool to manipulate language in political domain against freedom of speech.   

References:

Campbell, D. (September 11, 2017). Confusion reigns on what is politically correct and what isn't. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/confusion-reigns-on-what-is-politically-correct-and-what-isnt-20170911-gyf0cr.html

Hale, A. & Basides, H. (2013). The keys to academic English. Melbourne: Palgrave Macmillan.