On my part, I'd like to draw attention to the lack of context and intent in
Eric's analysis. That is, context and intent as it applied to Phil's usage.
Linguistiuc analysis is fine in the abstract and it's fine when applied to a
piece of writing that might be deemed 'ready for it', but when it removes a
phrase from its context and ignores the intent, its close to worthless.
This is not to say that I didn't appreciate the writing, though I have to
question the inclusion of Islington. Of all places, Islington....
As for PC, I think I find the reaction against it every bit as extreme as
the extent some PC advocates have gone to promote it.
Simon
Simon: to use a phrase like 'unwashed Arab masses' nailed it for me..
Okay, look at the word "unwashed." It means the regular folk, the unsophisticated, the mob, the plebian, the rough-cut, salt-of-the earth, Joe Sixpack, average people. Every nation has its unwashed.
Go to an Alabama trailer park, the Bronx, Sao Paulo, go to Islington and you will encounter "the unwashed."
Examine the specifics. According to a UN study sponsored by the Arab League, Middle Eastern nations ranked extremely low in education, access to information, rights for women, and other indicators of development. In some cases, the stats were on par with sub-Saharan Africa. (I can track this study down when I have more time or you could do it yourself.)
In other words, the Middle Eastern nations (for a variety of reasons that are for the moment irrelevant) have a higher than average proportion of "unwashed." Phil is referencing this group, which is not a racist fantasy but a demographic fact, and you somehow conclude that this nails your assertion that he is a racist.
I suspect you are confused on this point. As a caution, directed not necessarily to you Simon, here's David Foster Wallace again:
http://tinyurl.com/6y4ta
"Like many forms of Vogue Usage, PCE functions primarily to signal and congratulate certain virtues in the speaker — scrupulous egalitarianism, concern for the dignity of all people, sophistication about the political implications of language — and so serves the selfish interests of the PC far more than it serves any of the persons or groups renamed."
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