Academic ideas often precede cultural and social changes. While the terms in question were previously unknown outside academia and restricted to the postmodern

Academic ideas often precede cultural and social changes. While the terms in question were previously unknown outside academia and restricted to the postmodern milieu, they are now terms I hear quite often among relatively recent university graduates, even in the software industry. It isn't surprising. After all, one way to influence social changes, good or bad, is by influencing students who then take what they've been taught with them into the broader world. On a related note, you might find Richard Rorty's essay "Universality and Truth" (found in "Rorty and His Critics") interesting. In it, he makes it clear that either you hold to liberal and secular views on the subjects at hand, or you're a “bigoted, homophobic, religious fundamentalist" and therefore ought to be ridiculed (and ought to have your children taught to see you in that light as well). Sadly, this extremist bifurcation of the world seems to be reflected in the unsophisticated politics of our times.