I decided to write a few things about the words "political correctness" (which I’ll also call PC). I’m going to argue that political correctness does not exist. The two words exist – the word "political" and the word "correctness." But there’s no such thing as a PC movement or a PC agenda or a PC anything.
In fact, next time you’re in a crowd of people, ask people "Hey, if you have a friend who’s politically correct, raise your hand." Some people will raise their hands, maybe even a majority. Then say, "Put your hands down. Now, raise your hand if you yourself are politically correct." I’ll bet that no one voluntarily says, "Yep, I’m PC." This works great if you have a microphone and a stage.
People (usually right wingers) apply the PC label to others (usually left wingers) but almost never to themselves. More juicy stuff if you follow me below the fold.
I think there’s a psychological reason people don’t like PC. In the U.S., children learn to dislike the word "correct" because there are two basic meanings:
When you’re learning math, there is only one "correct" answer. You do the math and when you figure out the answer, it’s either correct or incorrect. Those are the only two possibilities. If you get it wrong, you’re stupid.
When you’re learning table manners, you discover that there’s a "correct" fork for salad, or a "correct" way to eat shrimp, or a "correct" way to fold a napkin. As you get older, you might come to think that these rules are arbitrary and ultimately silly.
Plus, the phrase "politically correct" sounds vaguely Marxist. So when you call people PC, you’re sort of accusing them of being a mixture of communists/math teachers/Miss Manners.
A right winger might sometimes argue that political correctness comes directly from Marxist theory. And, yes, it’s true that at one time, Communists used the phrase "politically correct." But it soon came to be used in a mocking and ironic way, the way that children make fun of adults, as in the following example from my life:
I had a grandmother who would sometimes say to my siblings and me, "Tsk. Tsk. A little gentleman would never spit on the ground." When my grandmother wasn’t around, if my sister came into the house from outside and left the front door open, I might say in my grandma’s voice, "Tsk. Tsk. A little lady wouldn’t leave the front door open." And then we’d both burst out laughing.
In the old days, Marxists laughed about being politically correct.
PC Words
I’ve said that I believe there’s no such thing as PC (in fact, it’s usually a label applied by a right winger to a left winger). A lot of times, however, there’s some minority group that prefers to be called by one name, rather than by the name commonly used by the majority group (which might be a slur or not). And if you insist on the word preferred by the minority – whether or not you belong to that minority – someone will call you PC.
Here’s a mild example: when I was a kid, I read a lot of science fiction. Insiders (science fiction fans) called it "SF," whereas outsiders (the majority) called it "sci-fi." Fans of science fiction sometimes pronounced the second word "skiffy."
Here’s another example: dwarfs and midgets generally prefer the term "little person." I’m not a member of that group, so I’ll follow their lead. I’m not being PC by using that term. I’m just being polite. Sometimes you should be polite.
You knew I was going to mention the N-word and the F-word, didn’t you? Nigger and Faggot are hateful words. When I was a child, my grandmother used the term "colored people." She hated the word "nigger," but for her it was OK to talk about "the coloreds." My parents used the word "Negro," but later switched to "Black." I tend to use the word "African-American" or "people of color." But it’s not my choice if I want to be polite. If I’m not a member of that group, then I’ll use the word that they want me to use.
I also prefer the word "gay" or "GLBT" (because that’s what members of that group prefer). In the old days, they were called deviants or inverts (which, nowadays would be insults).
And, by the way, if a gay man calls another gay man a "faggot" or if an African-American uses the word "nigger," that doesn’t give you permission as an outsider to use those words. It’s not a political (correctness) issue, it’s an issue of being polite.
PC Actions
It’s not always a word thing.
Perhaps a college cancels a speech by someone who denies the holocaust happened. Perhaps a publishing company rewrites certain parts of the Bible to include both men and women. Perhaps a college denies tenure to a professor who claims George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps an elementary gym teacher decides to stop playing dodgeball at his school. Perhaps a soccer league for six-year-old kids decides to give penalties to parents who act like assholes. Are those examples of PC?
No. I said it before: There’s no such thing as a PC movement or a PC agenda. It’s almost always a derogatory term used as an insult.
Euphemisms Are Popular
There’s a pretty good article on Wikipedia about euphemisms. Did you know that, in Spanish, you can say "maldicion" (literally, "bad word") to swear? It would be like smashing your thumb with a hammer and then saying, in English, "Bad Word! Bad Word!"
The Wiki article also talks about the "euphemism treadmill." A euphemism becomes an insult, so a new euphemism is formed. For example: lame – crippled – handicapped – disabled – physically challenged – differently abled.
Or, soldiers had shell shock (WWI) – battle fatigue (WWII) – operational exhaustion (Korean War) – PTSD (Vietnam War). I remember reading somewhere about the soldiers in the Trojan War suffering from PTSD. Homer wrote about it. The fact is there. It’s just the words that change.
Another example (from economics): Back in the 1800s, the economy had a crash or a panic. Then in 1930, we had a depression (which doesn’t sound quite as bad as a panic). Since 1930, we’ve had recessions. Aren’t euphemisms great?
Speaking of euphemisms – isn’t "Enhanced Interrogation Technique" just a euphemism for "Torture"? Sounds like a Dick Cheney version of political correctness.
Either PC exists or it doesn’t. But if it does exist, then I would argue that the right wing does it as much as (or more than) the left wing.