A brief personal history of PC

[Gene Mitchell <OptoEcon -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

The latest in a long series of remarks on political correctness included:

<<By my reading, this means that someone who is actively "POLITICALLY
      INCORRECT" makes a habit of excluding, marginalizing, or insulting
      others. I fail to see how anybody could take pride in such behavior.
But
      then, I never could understand conservative Christians.

Which of course makes it completely acceptable to exclude, marginalize or
insult them, eh, Douglas?>>

I go back and forth on this "PC thing," since it has a history that sheds a
little light.  In the early 1980s (1983-84, to be exact), I was a canvasser
for a Midwestern political action group that primarly worked on utility-rate
issues, but was allied and networked with a variety of other so-called
"left-wing" activist groups on the environment, housing, nuclear freeze, etc.
 (I say "so-called" since what's considered left-wing in the USA is a joke.
 If Pat Robertson wants to see real left-wingers he should go talk to some
British anarchists in London.  - End of tangent- )

Anyway- and this should be important to writers who believe words matter- I
remember those of us in this rather large, well-networked, so-called
"left-wing" activist community used the phrase "politically correct" now and
then, and IT WAS ALWAYS USED AS A JOKE.  The phrase was INVENTED by the
people at whom, today, it is most often directed as an insult.  In those days
we applied it to restaurants, dry cleaners, other activists, cars, etc.
 Usually it was used to signify that the person, place, or thing we were
talking about was in agreement with our views (e.g., an auto company that
didn't invest in South Africa, a politician who supported our causes, or even
something trivial like a restaurant that we liked!).  It was a throwaway
phrase that we didn't take seriously; generally it was code for "we like this
person, place or thing."  It wasn't until a few years later that people like
George Will jumped on it, entered it into widespread use, and redefined it to
apply to people promoting speech codes on college campuses, euphemistic
language, and anyone else it suited his purposes to apply it to.

These days it's become meaningless since it covers too many things -
language, so-called liberal politics, activists of all stripes (everyone from
the "speech code" people to the ACLU types like me who oppose such things and
yet generally fit into the liberal spectrum).  Certain nasty types fling it
about quite carelessly at anyone they don't like, and certain people, as
Arlen pointed out, do use it as a cover for continuing to be assholes.

I suggest that writers - who should care about precise language - go back to
some more traditional, better defined terms for people they're attacking and
jettison the term "political correctness" ASAP.  It is an empty phrase that
gets emptier by the day.

Gene Mitchell
MITCHUK -at- aol -dot- com