Maybe being ‘PC’ isn’t so bad

One of the chief weapons of the modern day right-wing playbook is the phrase "politically correct." I couldn't find any references of anyone who claims to have coined the term, but it seems to have developed out of a backlash against the feminist movement and then spread to race and other issues.

The term has now spanned the globe. One right-wing party in New Zealand has even set up a position - the "Political Correctness Eradicator." Some of the most strident proponents argue that PCism threatens our most basic freedoms and even incorporates an element of social engineering. And while its use may be universal, it is still a subjective term, meaning different things to different people, helping it to be such an effective political device.

Let's go back to the dawn of the "politically correct" era - the 1980s. Those who didn't like some aspects of the feminist movement, such as equal pay for equal work, realized that they couldn't easily win hearts and minds by attacking that aspect of it directly, so they found anecdotes of some "women's libbers" who supposedly wanted "joint restrooms" and other such nonsense and tried to connect the two.

Of course, this was absurd. But it served the interests of those who didn't like the more mainstream aspects of the growing sense that women should have equal rights.

Then some clever media types figured out that you could tie both together with a term that was naturally pejorative - "politically correct." After all, politics already had a negative connotation. Who would want to say they were faithfully doing a politician's bidding-

The term was so well liked that few bothered to dispute it, even though a classic sign of a weak argument is reliance on clichés. And clichés do help us cover up our true thoughts so often. The term was almost always used with scorn to back up an argument.
Probably not coincidentally, the term's rise in prominence coincided with the ascendency of right-wing talk radio that spread the "gospel." And it quickly entered the popular lexicon. The Left offered no resistance and, in fact, often used the term themselves. But it has been pretty clear that the right wing "owned" the "patent."

The most commonly used definition for "PC" involved the words "overly sensitive." But most of the examples tend to be absurd, such as referring to a custodian as an "environmental engineer" or a bald man as "follically challenged." Many refer to the "PC thought police" who want to censure speech for some kind of vast left-wing conspiracy agenda. But it is well established that uttering words such as n---, retard, or criticizing Jesus or the armed forces, are electoral suicide for any politician. No vast left-wing conspiracy keeps them from doing that.

Words can be powerful. Just ask George Allen.
But instead of chalking up some silly elementary school incident as evidence of political correctness, perhaps it was simply a misguided attempt at empathizing with someone or some group. I suspect this anti-PC movement is born out of a latent desire to discredit the positive aspects of feminism, multiculturalism, and just being civil.

No, you can't say women shouldn't have equal pay for equal work or that anyone who doesn't have white skin is inferior. But you can get away with saying those things indirectly by citing the PC card. Of course, some people some of the time will go overboard trying to not offend anyone. More often than not, it is simply a lack of common sense.

Language is constantly changing. One hundred fifty years ago, there were plenty of people who would have said that banning slavery was being "politically correct" - if the phrase had been invented.

Label me politically correct, but I think the mindset that people should be kinder and empathize more, especially with historically marginalized groups, is a good thing. It has helped to eliminate some really offensive language from our vocabulary. But if the fear of being labeled "PC" makes accepting hurtful comments socially acceptable, then another kind of "thought police" will have taken hold.

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