Fwd: "politically correct"

[Mark David Higbee]

from Mark Higbee, Professor of History, Eastern Michigan University:

Please excuse a mere historian for speaking up on this, but the term "politically correct"
dates back to the
Communist parties of the 1930s popular front period, or perhaps even earlier, and it was
most certainly then
applied to anti-Semeticism, and to any other form of ethnic and racial prejudice.  So I believe
that to criticize
those who ignore Gibson's anti-Semeticism as politically incorrect is a usage consistent with
at least one of the
original purposes of the term.



----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, August 9, 2006 5:59 pm
Subject: Re: Fwd: "politically correct"

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Fwd: "politically correct"
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>
> On Wed, 9 Aug 2006, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>
> >> Is anyone at the Language Log (or anyone else you know)
> interested in
> >> the evolution of the term "politically correct"?  I stumbled
> across a
> >> use that fascinated me, as it seems to have come full circle.  It's
> >> about the Mel Gibson thing, and being PC is equated to *not*
> speaking>> out against his anti-semitism:
>
> I don't think there is anything too surprising about this.
> "Politicallycorrect" typically refers to leftist orthodoxies that
> are very concerned
> with multiculturalism, feminism, environmentalism, and a number of
> other-isms, but not usually that concerned with anti-Semitism.  For
> variousreasons, anti-anti-Semitism is not particularly hip in
> leftist circles.
> I say this not out of any political or ethnic agenda on my part --
> my own
> instincts are kind of intermediate between p.c. leftism and skepticism
> of same -- but as a straightforward description of political
> realities.
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
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