Rachael F's Response to "When Nice Ain't So Nice"

What I immediately thought of as I was reading this article in Readings for Intensive Writers, was the article in Why Write called “The point of Political Correctness.” It seems that there is a fine, somewhat indefinite line between the bad nice that Bell talks about and the necessity of not offending those around us.

Wasn’t Jesus nice? How then could it possibly be so bad? Bell answers this question with a list of accusations against niceness. It “edits the truth, dilutes loyalty, makes a caricature of patriotism. It hobbles Justice, shortcircuits Honor, and counterfeits Mercy, Compassion, and Love.”  I would add that it is the great enabler of our day. This seemed a rather brash analysis of something that I had been taught as a child was a virtue. But upon further reflection I found it interesting that Bell uses words such as “compassion” and “love”, not as synonyms, but as opposites of nicety. She manages to completely disparage our society’s misconception about being nice without undermining the importance of true human kindness and courtesy. The difference, she explains, is whether we are doing something nice because it is what is expected from us, or because it comes from the heart.

Her examples of the repercussions of niceness is startling and detailed. I would have never thought to connect road rage with niceness. Or Sex offenders. Or lazy teenage students.

Yet the article in the article in Why Write emphasizes our need to be nice when we write. It has been difficult for me to reconcile these two ideas in my head. Maybe one must conform to the niceness that society expects until one is a known writer, at which point you are allowed to say what you want. Or maybe it really is important to say firefighter instead of fireman so we don’t offend feminists, even though that seems ridiculous to me.

All in all I don’t think there is one umbrella answer, since each situation is different. But I think Bell’s topic is bold and necessary for us to learn as we are forming our own opinions and even our own way of living since we are all starting a much more independent stage in our life here at BYU.