a quick argument for hating the term "politically (in)correct" May 14 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Revelation [Digipak] by Journey From $12 Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned From $40 The Bottom Line (A somewhat forlorn protest against yet another cheap, noxious way of labeling people.) I recognize the hilarious irony involved in even bringing it up, but I wish to convince you of this: that the terms “politically correct” and “politically incorrect” are vicious, dishonest terms, and that you should kindly choose not to use them. Please forget, for a moment, to whom they refer. You might have strong feelings about the debate attached to the words, and let’s face it, your strong feelings about at least one of the terms (if not both) are probably based on the actions of random idiots. All political positions attract idiots (although not as easily as political apathy does), and it’s hardly the positions’ fault. What I want you to look at is how the terms are used. “Politically correct”: that sounds smug, doesn’t it? Conceited, cocksure. But does anyone, ever, call themselves Politically Correct in such an attitude? No, of course not. It’s something you call someone else, the enemy. It always has been, too. I’ve seen one etymology of the term that did trace it to _one_ original use in which someone in a college newspaper called herself “politically correct”, but in a spirit of obvious self-mockery: a joke. Even if did that pre-date the term’s general use, the first time most of us heard the term was as a weapon. “Politically incorrect”: that, on the other hand, sounds dangerous. Maybe even brave, certainly independent-minded. How odd it is, then, that “politically incorrect” is something you call yourself, or your friends. There has never been a TV show called Politically Correct, or Morally Correct or, ratings forbid, Factually Correct. But put a smarmy white guy in charge of a talk show called Politically Incorrect, and celebrities line up to do appearances. Consider, too, that Politically Correct is a term for a very specific set of political positions, and what can we conclude? That the phrase “politically incorrect” exists for members of a smug, cocksure majority to congratulate themselves on being brave enough to say what everyone they care about agrees with. And meanwhile, that the term “politically correct” exists so that a feeble minority, too powerless even to choose their own popular label, can be blasted as arrogant know-it-alls for even daring to have opinions of their own. Yes, of course, the so-called Politically Correct movement includes some people who _are_ arrogant know-it-alls, as well as a few pedants, pettifogs, rulemongers, hotheads, and silly gits. I think people exaggerate this - the brave, self-congratulating majority loves to spread the same few stories of "P.C. Gone Crazy" over and over and over, publicly saying how terrified they are that those ridiculous blacks or frigid premenstrual women or all-powerful cripples might complain if they forget the label du jour - but to some degree it's true. Again, name a movement that doesn’t. But the _idea_ behind “political correctness” is simple and modest: that you and I should assume that people who differ from us in background or experiences might have viewpoints just as valid and important as our own, even if it might be inconvenient to us. (I think the term “diversity training” would serve as a leader-approved movement label, and still let you argue against their specifics on merit.) The idea behind the self-applied label “politically incorrect” tends, from what I’ve witnessed, to be “Shut up and let me finish!”. I think it’s clearly the diversity trainers who, right or wrong, are braver and less smug. Let our language honor that. ******** (In regards to the irony of saying "please don't use the phrase 'P.C.'": yes, true, I’d also prefer you not to call the Chinese “yellow hordes” or black people “criminal scum”. Mean, sloppy-thinking lies are something you should be better than, and if you’re in the Epinions audience, I’m pretty sure you _are_ better. All I can do is ask; I can't enforce, and wouldn't if I could. Thank you, and goodnight.)

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