Source: Reason Magazine

“Amanda Taub’s Vox piece denying the existence of political correctness does get one thing right: The phrase political correctness “has no actual fixed or specific meaning.” What it does have, though Taub doesn’t explore this, is a history of meanings: a series of ways different people have deployed the term, often for radically different purposes. Unpack that history, and you can unpack a lot of the debates going on today.

People have been putting the words “politically” and “correct” together in various contexts for ages, but for our purposes the story begins in the middle of the 20th century, as various Marxist-Leninist sects developed a distinctive cant. One of the terms they liked to use was “politically correct,” as in “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!” It was a phrase for the sort of radical who was deeply interested in establishing and enforcing the “correct line,” to borrow another term of the day. If you were the sort of radical who was not interested in establishing and enforcing the correct line, you were bound to start mocking this way of talking, and by the end of the ’60s the mockers were flinging the phrase back at the drones. In 1969, for example, when Dana Beal of the White Panther Party defended the counterculture against its critics on the straight left, he argued that freely experimenting was more important than trying “to be perfectly politically ‘correct.'” A year later, in the seminal feminist anthology Sisterhood is Powerful, Robin Morgan derided male editors who had “the best intentions of being politically ‘correct'” but couldn’t resist butting in with their own ideas. In the new usage, which soon superceded the old Leninist lingo pretty much entirely, “politically correct” was an unkind term for leftists who acted as though good politics were simply a matter of mastering the right jargon.”

Source:Reason

I’m not saying this is the official definition of political correctness, but this is mine that I believe others share. And by the way, I’m not a fan of political correctness, except as it relates to slurs and perhaps racial, ethnic and sexist jokes. But political correctness are terms and phrases that are considered by lets say the broader public as acceptable. And something that is not considered politically correct is considered offensive. No racial and ethnic slurs by a majority if not most Americans are generally considered offensive and politically incorrect. Only the Far-Right and Far Left approve of them. Well they approve of the slurs against people they disapprove of.

The extreme version of political correctness which is really a form of fascism, is when people criticize members of minority groups and minority groups in general. And they don’t even use bigoted language. Like with Bill Maher back in September and October criticizing Islam and certain aspects of it, accurately so I might add. And the Far-Left who use to admire Maher now viewing him as a racist for criticizing Islam even though his critique was factually based. But since Muslims are a religious, not ethnic or racial minority in the country, the Far-Left jumped on Bill Maher and called him a bigot if not racist for his critique of Islam.

I agree that people who use offensive language against members of groups or groups in general, especially when they are inaccurate and are intentionally being offensive should be looked down upon as bigots and people who aren’t very bright and everything else. But that is different from saying someone should automatically be fired or not allowed to speak simply because they say things that is offensive. Whether its Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage on the Far-Right, or Michael Moore on the Far-Left. People on the fringes in America have the same free speech rights as people in the mainstream. So when political correctness becomes fascism is when I have a real problem with it as a Liberal who loves free speech and the First Amendment.

GBPPR: The History of Political Correctness