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"Political correctness" is almost always used as a pejorative. So saying that surveyed Americans dislike it its about as surprising as saying that Americans thi

"Political correctness" is almost always used as a pejorative. So saying that surveyed Americans dislike it its about as surprising as saying that Americans think racism is bad in principle in surveys - it does not mean that Americans don't on-mass practice it even if in principle they violently oppose it. The only "political correctness" people identify is the language of their political opponents. Political correctness is most often used as a criticism of the politically sensitive language used by different groups. As a very American example, you just need to look at the terms "Pro Life" and "Pro Choice". From the perspective of the opposing groups "Pro Life" amounts to "Pro subjugation of women at the cost of their individual health and political power", and "Pro Choice" amounts to "Pro infanticide sinful hedonists". Both groups have significant political power in American, and wielding that power they demand respect behind these "PC" labels. Political correctness isn't new or some kind of distinct ideology, its an exercise or attempted exercise in political power to shape the language and outcomes of our politics. Its our basic civility and the structure of power. What is new maybe is the pace of social and political change of the past 100 years that has made people notice the exercise in new political power more often.

gaius 8y ago
attempted exercise in political power to shape the language and outcomes of our politics. Manipulating language doesn't really work tho', because everyone understands what's really meant. As an example we all actually know that a "full stack engineer" is just a webdev, and a "senior" one probably only has 2 years experience. I mean back in the days of client-server, you would have developers do a GUI in Delphi or Visual Basic and also write the SQL to run on the server, and noone ever bragged about being "full stack" back then, it was just a normal part of the job. In the early days of the web the same people would write the HTML and the Perl CGIs and no-one ever used the term "full stack". I was there. It's baffling why people even try these tricks because they're so transparent and in fact only hurt their own credibility.
- pjc50 8y ago
  It does and it doesn't. Framing can be extremely effective in politics: "collateral damage", "entitlements" etc. There can also be reclaiming efforts on specific words e.g. "queer". But in the other direction the euphemism treadmill can turn terms intended to be neutral into slurs - "retarded" is possibly the most conspicuous example.
  - gaius 8y ago
    "retarded" is possibly the most conspicuous example. The earliest example of this I can remember is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Deacon#Blue_Peter_and_cultural_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Deacon#Blue_Peter_and_cul... (showing my age abit there!)
crispyambulance 8y ago
The term "politically correct" started its life in the 60's and 70's when leftist groups used it IRONICALLY to criticize other leftists who were excessively dogmatic. Somehow in the early 90's the term got lifted by the hard right to describe _anyone_ who they believe promoted progressive ideas. I remember when Rush Limbaugh was in his peak, he used the term "PC" constantly. Since that time it has come to be used exactly as you describe by the hard right and increasingly, the mainstream, which happens to also be shifting to the hard right. Whatever the history, "politically correct" has always been an insult. While there certainly are people who think they're 100% correct in politics, no reasonable person wants to labeled by others as "PC". Unfortunately, there's been some developments which make me wonder whether some are actually embracing the term without irony. That's disturbing and it is a sign that really, really bad stuff may be coming.
- goliatone 8y ago
  What I find troubling is the recent trend of people feeling they have to be “ideologically correct”. I started to notice that attitude as the right united under a common party discourse against Obama, even when some of that discourse was obvious bs. I guess media could have played a big role, bubbling up a single “voice” (What a weird world this is today, where I find myself missing John McCain)

gaius 8y ago

attempted exercise in political power to shape the language and outcomes of our politics. Manipulating language doesn't really work tho', because everyone understands what's really meant. As an example we all actually know that a "full stack engineer" is just a webdev, and a "senior" one probably only has 2 years experience. I mean back in the days of client-server, you would have developers do a GUI in Delphi or Visual Basic and also write the SQL to run on the server, and noone ever bragged about being "full stack" back then, it was just a normal part of the job. In the early days of the web the same people would write the HTML and the Perl CGIs and no-one ever used the term "full stack". I was there. It's baffling why people even try these tricks because they're so transparent and in fact only hurt their own credibility.

pjc50 8y ago
It does and it doesn't. Framing can be extremely effective in politics: "collateral damage", "entitlements" etc. There can also be reclaiming efforts on specific words e.g. "queer". But in the other direction the euphemism treadmill can turn terms intended to be neutral into slurs - "retarded" is possibly the most conspicuous example.
- gaius 8y ago
  "retarded" is possibly the most conspicuous example. The earliest example of this I can remember is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Deacon#Blue_Peter_and_cultural_impact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Deacon#Blue_Peter_and_cul... (showing my age abit there!)

crispyambulance 8y ago

The term "politically correct" started its life in the 60's and 70's when leftist groups used it IRONICALLY to criticize other leftists who were excessively dogmatic. Somehow in the early 90's the term got lifted by the hard right to describe _anyone_ who they believe promoted progressive ideas. I remember when Rush Limbaugh was in his peak, he used the term "PC" constantly. Since that time it has come to be used exactly as you describe by the hard right and increasingly, the mainstream, which happens to also be shifting to the hard right. Whatever the history, "politically correct" has always been an insult. While there certainly are people who think they're 100% correct in politics, no reasonable person wants to labeled by others as "PC". Unfortunately, there's been some developments which make me wonder whether some are actually embracing the term without irony. That's disturbing and it is a sign that really, really bad stuff may be coming.

goliatone 8y ago
What I find troubling is the recent trend of people feeling they have to be “ideologically correct”. I started to notice that attitude as the right united under a common party discourse against Obama, even when some of that discourse was obvious bs. I guess media could have played a big role, bubbling up a single “voice” (What a weird world this is today, where I find myself missing John McCain)