20 | January | 2012 | I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
P. D. James

Is Political Correctness as rampant where you live as it is here in Godzone/Aotearoa? We are constantly worried here in case we step on somebody’s toes or offend somebody in some way, and often it causes us to do nothing. Note – the use of the word “us” here is a generic term for both our politicians and the general hoi polloi.

To my mind PC as used by our politicians, the media and those who deem themselves to be in charge of our actions (and maybe even our thoughts), is tyranny. And the rationale of this tyranny? It appears to be to prevent people being offended by what is said or done; to ~~prevent~~ compel each of us to avoid using words that may upset others, including women, fat people, small or tall people,homosexuals, etc etc.

Well I would not knowingly offend any of these people but feel that this has gone too far. Political Correctness is in my view, a sophisticated form of censorship that affects all of us and creeps unasked into our lives. The values and rules of my parents’ generation appear to be thrown out with the bath water and what is moving in to take their place? Political Correctness.

I decided to investigate the origins or this phenomenon and see if I could find out the reason for its introduction into our lives. I found an explanation on this site. Here I read that “It was developed at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, which was founded in 1923 and came to be known as the “Frankfurt School.” It was a group of thinkers who pulled together to find a solution to the biggest problem facing the implementers of communism in Russia.

The problem? Why wasn’t communism spreading? Their answer? Because Western Civilization was in its way.” It went on to say

“What was the problem with Western Civilization? Its belief in the individual, that an individual could develop valid ideas. At the root of communism was the theory that all valid ideas come from the effect of the social group of the masses. The individual is nothing.”

And so Political Correctness was introduced to undermine Western Civilisations’ foundations by incessantly and insidiously attacking the rights of the individuals. Well, that explains it then.

And today after receiving this email from a friend, I decided to air my ~~concerns~~objections about and to this trend. See what you think?

“There’s an annual contest at the University of Arkansas calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term. This year’s term was: “Political Correctness.” The winning student wrote:

“Political correctness is a doctrine — fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media — which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end.”

Well that says it all for me anyway. What do you think?