Is Maine seriously considering changing the labels we put on people who break the law?
I refer to the recent story about what I consider the “not-a-problem” idea of stigmatizing lawbreakers.
We should change “inmate” to “resident of a jail”? And that’s because we don’t want to stigmatize them? So we’re going to pay someone to go through hundreds of state laws and change the wording so that none of these words is ever used again? What a colossal waste of time and money.
Moreover, if the purpose of changing these words is to take away the stigma, this doesn’t do it. Don’t the words “inmate” and “prisoner” and “convict” all mean “a resident of a jail”?
Stop it! This is political correctness gone off the cliff.
Paula Gibbs McKenney
president, Maine Press Association, 2008-09
Woolwich
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