Posted on 01/25/2011 11:46:23 AM PST by FredJake
Politcal correctness - the idea of subsituting certain words or thoughts with others deemed to be "acceptable" - is destroying America.
The phrase came about, according to Bill Lind in an address ten years ago, in a comic strip. We laugh at the idea of political correctness, but as Lind points out, it is deadly serious. He calls it the:
...great disease of our century, the disease that has left tens of millions of people dead in Europe, in Russia, in China, indeed around the world. It is the disease of ideology. PC is not funny. PC is deadly serious.
We have seen political correctness, or PC, rear its ugly head since the shootings in Tucson.
For example, one Member of Congress announced he would introduce legislation banning the use of crosshair graphics in political ads, and a CNN talk show host apologized after a guest used the term.
"We're trying to get away from using that kind of language," John King explained.
Others have actually suggested banning certain words from our vocabulary, as though that in and of itself would prevent other acts of violence.
Destruction of language was a central theme in George Orwell's signature novel 1984, a book that should be required reading for anyone concerned about the state of modern American politics, for in it one finds many parallels between the fictitious tyrannical state of Oceania and modern liberalism.
Remove words, and one removes thought; Remove thought, and one removes freedom. In a conversation with the main character, Winston Smith, one of the "creators" of Newspeak explained:
The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness
If this sounds familiar, it should.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Except when I slip up, I don’t use the word “gay”. I use the word “homosexual” and sometimes “sodomist”. Also, starting this year, I stopped referring to negroes as “black” or “african american” in many instances. If, in a conversation, whites are called “caucasian” Then I call blacks “negroes”.
IOW, I discovered that PC had crept into my life and I’m trying to reel it in.
Fight back with bumper stickers!
I actually have a copy of the original (Newsweek or Time) magazine that made it their cover story. I don’t know the exact date but it was in the very early 90’s that that particular magazine came out.
Yeah, the author is WAY off at 10 years. Frankly, it seems kinda lazy.
http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=17933
And who could forget this classic from 1994:
Cut and paste from some old listserv research :-)
Krushchev’s secret speech in which he denounced
Stalin for the first time (at the 1956 Communist Party Congress) the use of a term in Russian that could be translated as “politically
correct.” While denouncing Stalin, Krushchev maintained a belief in the
“politically correct”—which Stalin obviously wasn’t.
Ric Dolphin’s Not Politically Correct (1992) confirms Mark’s belief that the
term originated in the Thoughts of Mao Tse Tung. Dolphin states that its
first use in the U.S. was by Angela Davis in 1971 when she argued that there
could be no “opposing argument to an issue which has only one correct side.”
Then in 1975, the then-president of the National Organization of Women said
that organization was moving in “the intellectually and politically correct
direction
I think if you go to David Horowitz’s site and search for the history of PC, you will find that it goes back in the US to the 20s, and in Soviet marxist parlance before that.
I don’t think he’s saying the phrase came about ten years ago, I think he means Lind’s speech was made ten years ago. If you follow the link he gives for the speech it’s dated 2000. So, I thnk that’s what he means. It could have been written a bit clearer.
I'm the same way. "Gay," to me, means happy or joyful. I am also adamant about using "sex" instead of "gender," a term which should be confined to linguistics. And when writing dates, I insist on using "BC" and "AD" instead of "BCE" and "CE."
I was talking to someone about “BCE” and “CE”. I told them that “BCE” means “before Christian era”, and that “CE” means “Christian era”. They were frustrated that I would interpret those initials that way.
As we know, BCE and CE are the politically correct replacements for BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domino, or the year of our Lord). The politically correct crowd probably made a blunder by using BCE and CE. Since we know that the calendar numbering system dates from the time of Christ, certainly many other people have thought that BCE was supposed to stand for before the Christian era, as I did.
Maybe some future liberals will overhaul our calendar. The new year 1 could be the equivalent of 1973, to celebrate Roe vs. Wade. Or the new year 1 could be the equivalent of 2004, to celebrate the Mass. same-sex marriage court case. Or maybe 1 will be 2008, to celebrate the election of you know who.
The wonders of email. I emailed the author and he responded pretty quick. Here’s what he said:
“You are correct, Lind’s address to the AIA was in 2000. No, I am not saying the phrase came about ten years ago. I believe it’s been around since about WW 1, the time of Beck’s favorite President ;-}. Looking at the article now, in hindsight I should’ve been clearer on that. I will go back and edit the article to clear up any misconception. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.”
PC=Political Communism
Excellent!
Thomas Sowell: “ . . . For those who have difficulty understanding the strange way words are used by politicians and the media, here is a glossary translating political rhetoric into plain English.”
Crises - Any situation you want to change.
Bilingual - Unable to speak English.
Non judgemental - Blaming society.
Simplistic - An argument you disagree with but can’t answer.
Rehabilitation - Magic word said before releasing criminals.
A matter of principle - A political controversy involving
the conviction of liberals.
An emotional issue - A political controversy involving the
conviction of conservatives.
Source - Page 125, Compassion versus Guilt and Other Essays.
Looks like he’s edited the paragraph to make it clearer. It now reads:
“The phrase has been in existence for many years. A Wikipedia entry notes an early usage of the term in the 18th Century, and proponents of liberal thought used it in the 1970’s. The idea has been around at least since World War 1, and one website attributes the phrase to Leon Trotsky. In an address to the AIA in 2000, Bill Lind said it originated in a comic strip. We laugh at the idea of political correctness, but as Lind points out, it is deadly serious. He calls it the:”
Miltary assault rifle = gun
Victim = Democrat
Risky = Responsible
Working Family = Welfare household with no father
Not to mention “forced diversity” is another problem we have.
We need to bring back the following TV shows:
Laugh In
All in the Family
Sanford and Son
Chico and the Man
The Jeffersons
The movie "PCU" came out in 1994, and at that time was already lampooning the infestation of political correctness in American academia.
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