We cats have been tempted to zoom over to our favorite paranoid corner of the Internet, Free Republic, to see what our right-wing friends have posted about Benedict Cumberbatch's recent linguistic gaffe.
Surely they're fuming over another persecution of a white man by political correctness run amok. We're so certain of this that we don't even need to look.
We know we'd see the same old tired indignation from people who, as usual, miss the point. In our experience, what the Freepers and others decry as evil and speech-squelching political correctness is almost always nothing more than being considerate of other people's viewpoints and feelings. We think that that's a good thing. If society now frowns upon callous, insensitive speech and behavior that it used to tolerate — well, yay.
At the same time, we're also inclined to give Mr. C a pass on this one. Not because using the term "coloured actors" instead of "actors of colour" wasn't an anachronistic eyebrow-raiser — it was — but because his apology was so sincere. He understands the grave nature of his error: As a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with an MA in classical acting, he knows the power of language.
So in the end, we PURR at Benedict Cumberbatch. But if he's still feeling like a bad puddy-tat, he could always change his name. We cats suggest Kirby Delauter.
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