Presidents’ abusive language
President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili followed former President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko in being accused of xenophobia. Criticizing customs officers he stated that their searching of luggage of tourists and citizens of Georgia was inadmissible, and influences the authority of the country and the development of tourism. “When you go to Europe, are you or your luggage searched by anyone? Are we Negroes or what? Why do we behave as if we were savages?”
It was this word “Negroes” that did nor sit well with human rights activists. The Day following this incident the press service of Saakashvili made a statement that the president’s words were not connected with any race or race distinctions, and were consciously interpreted in a wrong way by some mass media. However, this didn’t satisfy the human rights activists and they demanded public apologies personally from Saakashvili.
In the meanwhile, they admit that the head of Georgia didn’t have an intention to offend anyone. Moreover, the phrase he used is idiomatic in the Georgian language.
In a similar way in April last year Viktor Yushchenko, during a meeting in the Kyiv region pertaining to agriculture issues, compared a good-for-nothing worker with a Moldavian: “You are like a Moldavian,” he told him. And then he specified right away: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean the nation.” Then he was demanded to apologize, the Moldavian diaspora was especially persistent, and during a press conference he stated that it was a bad joke.
Certainly, neither Saakashvili nor Yushchenko intended to offend Negroes or Moldavians. They just used language constructions that exist in the Georgian and Ukrainian languages. And each of the languages contains lots of similar expressions. For example: “Changeable as the Gypsy’s sun.” When we use this proverb, we don’t have any intentions to offend the Gypsies.
Similar idiomatic expressions slip out of our mouth mechanically, without any ulterior motives. People use these expressions and they reflect their experience of communication with one or another nation. From the viewpoint of political correctness it is wrong, but that is the way it is.
The cases mentioned demonstrate that politicians cannot allow themselves to say things an ordinary citizen can. In the mouth of a public person a traditional saying is transformed into an offense of another nation or race.
In the United States it is especially important: the political correctness there is elevated to one of the fundamental principles of the state. For example, once the society decided that it was not correct to call Negroes like that, and they started calling them black. Then they decided that this can be offensive too, and now they’re called African-Americans.
The Russian satirist Mikhail Zadornov mocks a lot at such a political correctness. But this laughter is mixed up with tears, since in politically incorrect Russia the war against Russian citizens of Chechen nationality has been ongoing for years. In the United States representatives of different ethnic groups live side by side peacefully. Isn’t it owing to such a funny political correctness that they don’t fight one another?
