Pardon our political incorrectness

That's it, we can't stand it anymore. A straw has finally broken the camel's back.

Sausage Bowl is now the Bulldog Bowl? That is outrageous. One of the most time-honored, respected and integral parts of the Gonzaga school year has been disrespected beyond repair because of the chance someone may not like the name. To even consider changing the name is preposterous, but to actually do it? Sacrilege.

 More and more things are being downgraded and normalized in order to avoid offending some offshoot of the population. We are sick of it. No one is able to say what they want in a public setting without worrying about some hypersensitive listener starting a campaign against them. Political correctness has come to a point where it is no longer opinions or viewpoints that offend, but rather it is a fear of anything different that has come to be offensive.

Holidays are holidays; let's not pretend otherwise. When it is coming up on December 25, that means Christmas is around the corner. Yes, Christmas is a holiday, and yes, it falls during the holiday season but there is no reason to cram everything under the broad umbrella of "Happy Holidays." We shouldn't have to worry about offending someone by saying "Merry Christmas." As two young adults who, in fact, celebrate the religious holiday of Christmas, we have nothing against being greeted with a "Happy Hanukkah."

Christian holidays have been widely accepted by both religious and secular individuals for the entirety of United States history. Why are they being unfairly attacked by the 24 percent of Americans who do not identify themselves with some sort of Christian denomination? We sure hope they don't live in Maryland — debatably named for the Virgin Mary — or the megaregion of Southern California — where each of the biggest cities is named for a Christian divine entity (San Diego, San Bernardino and Los Angeles).

Let's launch a campaign: It's just not fair for the 19 million inhabitants living in those cities  to be subjected to the unfair, oppressive, noninclusive naming of their cities.

The subject of faith today in America has become more fragile than a girl's psyche on her first day of high school. It's to the point where it is so faux pas to disagree with anyone, that a mere difference in faith traditions can skyrocket someone into a frenzy. Aren't we, especially as students at a Jesuit institution, supposed to value philosophical and religious dialogue? Shying away from any type of confrontation or disagreement because we are afraid of stepping on someone's toes seems counterproductive to what we claim we are working to accomplish.

One other issue with excessive political correctness is stereotyping. Some may argue that it is unfair to place labels on certain people just because they have a characteristic that differentiates them from the majority. Guess what? They are different, and stereotypes aren't conjured out of thin air.

Admitting that a certain group of people is different isn't a bad thing. As a matter of fact, it's a good thing. How many times have we heard the complaint that there is absolutely no diversity on this campus? Diversity is something to be embraced, not hidden by a refusal to discuss or even acknowledge differences.

To all of you who are reading this and thinking that we are irreverent idiots who want nothing more than to shove the beliefs of the majority onto minorities, we would ask you if you value individuality. How is anyone supposed to express their own unique personality if they are constantly worried that their actions will offend someone who doesn't have the exact same beliefs?

Political correctness has caused people to try and fit into a cookie cutter society. In a public setting, societal norms push everyone to act the same way even though we are all about as similar as a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Political correctness is, for lack of a better word, dumb. So stop getting offended when someone's opinion inevitably differs from yours and they are actually bold enough to put it into words.

In the spirit of saying what we actually think, long live sausage, long live the Sausage Bowl and long live victory to DeSmet.

We hope that doesn't offend you.