Political Correctness - Current Usage

Current Usage

Widespread use of the term politically correct and its derivatives began when it was adopted as a pejorative term by the political right in the 1990s, in the context of the Culture Wars. Writing in the New York Times in 1990, Richard Bernstein noted "The term 'politically correct,' with its suggestion of Stalinist orthodoxy, is spoken more with irony and disapproval than with reverence. But across the country the term p.c., as it is commonly abbreviated, is being heard more and more in debates over what should be taught at the universities." Bernstein referred to a meeting of the Western Humanities Conference in Berkeley, California, on "'Political Correctness' and Cultural Studies," which examined "what effect the pressure to conform to currently fashionable ideas is having on scholarship". Bernstein also referred to "p.c.p" for "politically correct people," a term which did not take root in popular discussion.

Within a few years, this previously obscure term featured regularly in the lexicon of the conservative social and political challenges against curriculum expansion and progressive teaching methods in US high schools and universities. In 1991, addressing a graduating class of the University of Michigan, U.S. President George H. W. Bush spoke against "a movement declare certain topics 'off-limits,' certain expressions 'off-limits', even certain gestures 'off-limits'" in allusion to liberal Political Correctness. The most common usage here is as a pejorative term to refer to excessive deference to particular sensibilities at the expense of other considerations. The converse term "politically incorrect" came into use as an implicit term of self-praise, indicating that the user was not afraid to ignore constraints associated with political correctness. Examples of the latter include the conservative Politically Incorrect Guides published by Regnery Publishing and the television talk show Politically Incorrect.

The central uses of the term relate to particular issues of race, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture and worldviews, and encompass both the language in which issues are discussed and the viewpoints that are expressed. Proponents of the view that differences in IQ test scores between blacks and whites are (primarily or largely) genetically determined state that criticism of these views is based on political correctness.

Examples of language commonly referred to as "politically correct" include:

• "Intellectually disabled" in place of "Retarded" and other terms
• "African American" in place of "Black," "Negro" and other terms
• "Native American" (United States)/"First Nations" (Canada) in place of "Indian"
• "Caucasian" in place of "White", and other terms such as the more scientifically correct "Caucasoid"
• "Gender-neutral" terms such as "firefighter" in place of "fireman," police officer in place of policeman.
• Terms relating to lack of various common human abilities, such as "visually impaired" or "hearing impaired" in place of "blind" or "deaf"
• "Holiday", "winter" or "festive" in place of "Christmas"

In the United Kingdom, "political correctness gone mad" is a catchphrase associated with the conservative Daily Mail newspaper.

In a more general sense, any policy regarded by the speaker as representing an imposed orthodoxy may be criticized as "politically correct."