To PC or not to PC? That is the question

As some of you may know, I’ve been in England for a couple of weeks, attending my mother’s funeral and winding up her estate.

To all of you who sent your sympathy, my heartfelt thanks. I am truly grateful for all the kind words and offers of help and support.

It seems strange that while I’m temporarily off the radio, and thousands of miles from home, I have been confronted by listeners with a bone to pick.

“Sometimes I have no idea what you’re talking about on that show of yours,” said one English friend, “Where did you pick up all this jargon?”

I had been trying to explain why a lot of people who work with gay and lesbian youth don’t use terms such as ‘gay’, instead preferring the more neutral ‘same-sex attracted’.

“Don’t you talk like that on the radio, my friend,” he said.

“Cos I shouldn’t imagine many of us would know what you was on about. Talk English, mate, if you want to get your point across.”

He’s right. I’ve done far too many interviews on GLBTI issues that were chock-a-block with frankly elitist, academic and bureaucratic terminology, and it turns most people off.

Many communities have their own special language.  Doctors, lawyers, priests, software developers, train drivers. It’s useful for communicating with one other – and serves for excluding non-members.

So it’s useless for communicating with outsiders.  Like, as you might say, a radio audience.

A heterosexual listener, a long-time supporter, complained of some of the language and attitudes she hears from community figures.

“You’re talking in your own private language – I feel excluded, unwelcome.”

“It’s even worse when you try to explain, it just comes across as patronising,” she said.

“Why use those words in the first place, when you’re always going to have to explain?”

She’s right. Journalism’s job is to communicate information. Jargon exists to obscure it. We’re not conducting seminars.

But then we run into a problem. When I simplify, generalise, and try to translate, I inevitably put someone’s nose out of joint. There are a few well-meaning individuals out there who regularly squander their own and everyone else’s time and energy shrilly attacking deviations from their preferred terminology. Which only drives away support and destroys sympathy.

Please, take it easy folks. Don’t fly off the handle at every little slip. I and all the other GLBTI journos and broadcasters need all the help we can get to communicate the story of our community to the widest possible audience.

What we don’t need is repeated bashings over the head from people who are allegedly on the same side.

And to all of you who’ve occasionally felt shut out from the discussion – thanks for letting me know. I’ll do my best to put it right.

info: Doug returns to the airwaves with Freshly Doug (in plain English) at 9am on Thursday, November 4, Joy 94.9 FM in Melbourne and online www.joy.org.au.