alternatehistory.com

Okay, just to be clear, I never fully bought into the whole idea that "political correctness" was a unique historical problem. For the most part, I think opposition to "political correctness" was just conservatives suddenly discovering the virtues of "free-speech" and "opposing orthodoxy", now that it was no longer their version of orthodoxy lording it over everyone else. (How many people who lamented "the New McCarthysim" had disitinguished themselves by opposition to the original McCarthyism, for example.)

Be that as it may, there definitely WAS a perceptual shift in the early 90s, with large swathes of the public(possibly egged on by right-wing pundits) becoming convinced that left-wingers, on campus and elsewhere, had morphed into censorious authoritarians hellbent on repressing any dissent around issues to do with gender, race, sexuality etc. And, apart from the social trend itself, the phrase "political correctness" has maintained its presence in the vocabulary, though has now had its meaning diluted to the point where it can be used to mean things like "too obsessed with health regulations in restaurants". For example.

So, as a challenge, how would you prevent all that from happening? Would it be as simple as having Goerge F. Will or the editors of New Republic NOT write a few influential columns bemoaning the supposed left-liberal hegemony? Or was that kind of reaciton an inevitable result of having women and racial minorities attaining higher social positions in society? Or...?
Top