[A-List] Political Correctness

[c b]

From: DALY JAMES <james.irldaly at ntlworld.com>


"Political correctness is really a subjective list put together by the few
to rule the many -- a list of things one must think, say, or do. It affronts
the right of the individual to establish his or her own beliefs." Mark
Berley - Source: Argos, Spring 1998 [Information Clearing House]
**********************
 Political Correctness at its base is a minimalist version of the golden
rule, say, "Treat other people with the same respect you would like them to
treat you
with."
Attacks on it are usually right wing, but the above is a leftish sounding
attack. It stresses the individual's right to self-expression, to the
detriment of the common good, which involves and requires the right of
others to be
respected.
One debating ploy is to identify the well justified moral demand for
socially and politically decent behaviour with demands such as to use
ludicrous euphemisms, an example of which would be "folically challenged"
for "bald". ? JD

^^^^^^^
CB: I agree with you , James.

This is one of my pet peeves.  The terms "politically correct" or
"correct" for short, are necessary and fundamental to left and
socialist discourse. The goal of deriving politically correct
positions on the myriad of issues that arrive is entirely appropriate.
 Of course, in aiming for this goal, one does not claim that one will
never make mistakes or draw incorrect conclusions. But to proceed as
if the liberal posture that "all ideas are equally valid",  phony
universal tolerance, is patently wrong, shall we say. incorrect
(smile).  We need a term to refer to conclusions from thinking hard
about political issues, the type of thing we put much of our effort
into

My observation is that the bourgeois media was the first to attack the
terms "politically correct" or "correct" in a political context. I
remember news commentators speaking mockingly of the idea about 10 or
15 years ago.  Then the non-Marxist liberal-left took it up, in the
vein of faux liberation from Marxist "rigidity" and "dogma".  The rest
is history. There was even a television show with the title "Political
Correctness", in a sarcastic tone. It lumps firm left positions with
rightwing and Establishment dogmas and controlling ideas.