3-9-2017

By Jo Karabasz

 

“Political Correctness” is a phrase that has worried me for some time now. One of the biggest stumbling blocks in discussing this term is that its usage and meaning are so fluid.  In the time that it’s been part of the lexicon, it has been used to mean a whole host of things.  Let’s take a look at its history.

The words “politically” and “correct” have been used together since at least the middle of the last century. At that time the Marxist-Leninist writers used the term to define thinking that conformed to their ideology.  “What is needed now is a politically correct, class-conscious and militant leadership, which will lead an armed struggle to abolish the whole system of exploitation of man by man in Indonesia and establish a workers state!” [Gerassi, Towards Revolution, 1971].  Outside of their orthodoxy, it was all too easy to make fun of the phrase “politically correct”.

In the 1960’s, predictably enough, the concept of correctness did not resonate with the left in a time of personal freedom, not conformity, but the end of that decade “politically correct” was being used as a way of criticizing “lightweight” leftists, who were labelled with the term by those who accused them of engaging in the practice of substituting the right words for actual understanding of the political concepts behind the language itself.

At the same time, we began to see uses of the term that had little to do with political ideology.  “Politically correct” could describe a consumer good or a lifestyle choice. The tone was gently comic, of course, but indicated an aspect of globalism associated with the item or activity.

Before the end of the last century, the term had been co-opted to apply to any effort to demonize opinions that simply did not agree with that of the speaker.  To be sure, it was used mainly by left-thinkers as a means of attacking anything that could be construed to be detrimental to the “oppressed” parts of society: women, minorities, disabled persons, immigrants, the poor, etc.

In its December 24, 1990 issue, Newsweek led with the cover, “THOUGHT POLICE.”  That cover asked this question: “There’s a ‘politically correct’ way to talk about race, sex, and ideas. Is this the new enlightenment – or the new McCarthyism?”  Clearly, there was a rising sense that a new orthodoxy was replacing the old prejudices.

By the 1990’s the term “Politically Correct” was in common usage, but what did people mean when they said it? On the one hand, there continued to be the more or less humorous look at what groups and things should be called, but, on the other, the Newsweek cover story included anecdotes about censorship and wandered to topics not even remotely related to civil liberties.

It is worth noting that Bill Maher’s ‘90’s TV show was entitled “Politically Incorrect”.  Now Bill is certainly left-of-center politically, so what did he mean?  Seems to me he used the term to declare that he would not be kept from saying the inflammatory by anyone’s preconceived ideas of propriety.

In any case, those who were concerned that inclusiveness and feminism were eroding the power of, for want of a better term, “the establishment” had found a convenient lingo for push-back.  Simply objecting to the practice of “political correctness” rather than putting forth anti-inclusive ideas directly provided these pundits with a subtle way to conceal prejudice behind a defense of the free speech guaranteed to all by the 1^st Amendment.

“P.C.” began to be a vague term for all things left-of-center. At the same time, “Un-P.C.” became a kind of badge of honor.  To claim to be Politically Incorrect was to declare oneself to be resistant to orthodoxy and also to be a staunch defender of independent thought.  Not necessarily left or right, as it happens, just free to be outrageous.

In recent times [and, to be honest, my understanding of the term until now] to be P.C. is, more or less, to be polite. A benign enough use of the term. Yet, if someone unfamiliar with the latest twists of lingo unwittingly uses it in front of the wrong audience, he may receive the same reaction he’d get if he’d slapped someone’s grandmother.

So what DOES P.C. mean today?  Should it be part of our political discourse at all?  Perhaps not, not because it has no meaning, but, rather, because it has gone through so many changes of meaning over the decades. Used adroitly, it can be spun to mean almost anything, but it is also very likely to be misinterpreted by the listener. I’m entirely in favor of good manners AND of free thought and speech.  Does this mean that I’m “Politically Correct”, or that I’m not? I don’t think anyone can say for sure. And if someone says that I am, should I be flattered or insulted? Hmmmm …..

 

 

edited by Larry Brown

a New Fireside B1.1

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