"Politically Correct" Originated In Communism!

Well, to be honest, this isn't restricted to merely US Political Madness, but it's just madness in politics overall...

I happened to be looking in Merriam-Webster online dictionary lately...I ran across a word that I didn't really know the meaning for, so I decided to look it up. Lately, they've had a link to show a variety of Top 10 Lists & that caught my attention (after I looked up the word I was after).

So I went to the Top 10 List for Defining a Decade: Top Words of the 90's. I found the origins & common usage description for "Politically Correct" at slot #5:

#5: Politically Correct

It so happens that the Left invented this phrase: it entered Communist lingo in the 1930s to praise loyalty to the party line.
But eventually politically correct turned against them.
By the 90s, it was used mainly by the Right – as a kind of battle cry of the Culture Wars.
Here's President George H. W. Bush, in a 1991 commencement speech at the University of Michigan:
"The notion of political correctness has ignited controversy across the land. And although the movement arises from the laudable desire to sweep away the debris of racism and sexism and hatred, it replaces old prejudice with new ones. It declares certain topics off-limits, certain expression off-limits, even certain gestures off-limits."

Left or Right doesn't matter anymore, because this phrase has been extensively used by both of the major political parties in America.
Next time someone starts trying to get you to act "politically correct," lay this on 'em & mention that Free Americans don't like talking to Communists...

*sigh*

And you don't think a certain amount of political correctness is needed in todays interconnected world?

Would you like it if white people openly called African Americans n*ggers still?

This thread is stupid.

Glenn Beck brainwashed nonsense.

The End.

Originally posted by ghostsoldier
*sigh*

And you don't think a certain amount of political correctness is needed in todays interconnected world?

Would you like it if white people openly called African Americans n*ggers still?

This thread is stupid.

Glenn Beck brainwashed nonsense.

The End.

Ah and of course the communist gets mad.

I agree with you OP, you want political correctness go back to where you don't have to worry about it. You want to stay in America, live by our rules.

We are trained to Feel Good and value Feeling Good above all else. Called a "Racist"? Doesn't make you feel good. So people do what it takes to avoid not feeling good. Called a racist (by the real racists) for opposing Illegal Immigration? Our conditioning is to then accept Illegal Immigration and even bend over backwards to support the idea in order to "Feel Good". The majority are easily manipulated to put "Feel Good" above thinking. Do you "Discriminate" between right and wrong? That's bad, to "Discriminate" so that's a bad thing. The good think is to not discriminate, not think. In a broad stroke it get's the majority and that's democracy in action.

Originally posted by ghostsoldier
*sigh*

And you don't think a certain amount of political correctness is needed in todays interconnected world?

Would you like it if white people openly called African Americans n*ggers still?

This thread is stupid.

Glenn Beck brainwashed nonsense.

The End.

Not really. And I hate Glenn Beck and I weep every time I see a fatal car accident that is tragically NOT Glenn Beck. However, referring to an American of African descent is not "political correctness" it is simply being polite. Personally, I confirm what the individuals preference is and go by that. Some folks prefer "black" others prefer "African-American." Fine by me either way, it'd up to them.

People still ignorant enough to call people by racially charged epithets aren't being "politically incorrect" either...they're simply being morons.

I don't care for "political correctness" and I do see how it has been manipulated to become an abrogation of free speech and expression through fear of social alienation as a result of "political incorrectness."

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer

It so happens that the Left invented this phrase: it entered Communist lingo in the 1930s to praise loyalty to the party line.

Yeah...

But that's not what it means anymore.

The phrase "politically correct" has nothing to do with politics, its a reference to 'polispeak' being absolutely inoffensive to the point of redundancy.

I don't really understand the point of this thread. Are you trying to say that people who speak in a 'politically correct' manner are somehow Communist? Because then you would basically be calling every single politician, celebrity and public figure in the media during the last 20 years a Communist.

Seriously, what is the point here?

Maybe the term itself came from communist origin, but the underlying idea is not a product of communism. 'Political Correctness" comes from the age-old idea of compromising your code of ethics to get an often meaningless favor from the political powers that be. In a society that is seemingly ruled democratically, this manifests itself as what we now know as the modern definition of political correctness.

Conservatives like to use the term in a derogatory manner, ironically, in order to maintain the politically correct position of their constituents.

The idea of abolishing and shunning racism also originated in communism too.

Does that mean not being racist is bad?

Have you ever heard of something called a straw man argument?

en.wikipedia.org...

You are pretty good at presenting them.

Originally posted by FalselyFlagged
The idea of abolishing and shunning racism also originated in communism too.

Does that mean not being racist is bad?

Have you ever heard of something called a straw man argument?

en.wikipedia.org...

You are pretty good at presenting them.

Not at all. At least not for me. Simply because an idea originates within communism does not make either the idea in and of itself bad, nor does it exonerate communism for its totalitarian ridiculousness. However, the social alienation that comes from being involved in a progressive cause you believe in and being pushed out of that movement because you can't understand the reason for spelling the word women as "womyn" is a shame and one of the things that keeps us divided the most.

"Political Correctness" should more accurately be referred to as "Political Hipness" and if you're not "hip" you're nobody and anything you have to say is automatically invalid.

edit to add: What about people of African descent to rail on about people who use the term "black" as being white supremacist? Does no one see the irony?

[edit on 1-5-2010 by 4by4dave]

reply to post by prionace glauca


Your rules include political correctness. Thus you cannot call a Jewish person the "k word" or a black person the "n word."

You would rather have a society where this crap is ok?

Originally posted by ghostsoldier
*sigh*

Glenn Beck brainwashed nonsense.

*sigh*
Where did Glen Beck come from?...This thread is sourced from Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Originally posted by 4by4dave
Some folks prefer "black" others prefer "African-American." Fine by me either way, it'd up to them.

The way I see it, the term "colored" would be more accurate, therefore being more polite. This was a term commonly used in the 1960's, but it is more accurate. I've never actually met anyone who was truly "black" because I've never seen anyone as dark as that. But "colored" is more accurate, because there's a wide variety in shade, color & texture...Mocha, chocolate, coffee, etc, etc. If ANY term would be more applicable than "colored," I haven't ever heard of it.

It's only because of common usage over the past few decades, the "'n-word'" has been associated with race...It was politicized into an insult of a person's intelligence (ie: a stupid, ignorant person); some dictionaries (not Merriam-Webster though) that have been rendered "politically corrected" may still define the word this way. And yet, in common usage,"colored" people still use it frequently between each other, but without the usual inflamatory context, compared to if someone of another race used it.

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
Your rules include political correctness. Thus you cannot call a Jewish person the "k word" or a black person the "n word."

You would rather have a society where this crap is ok?

Actually, I'd prefer a society where this isn't even an issue.
As for me, I've come not to fear words...Unlike so many "politically corrected" people do...

Originally posted by drwizardphd
The phrase "politically correct" has nothing to do with politics, its a reference to 'polispeak' being absolutely inoffensive to the point of redundancy.

Actually, it's more my opinion that, while its goal is to be inoffensive, the result is to be speaking so as to be incomprehensible.

Originally posted by drwizardphd
I don't really understand the point of this thread. Are you trying to say that people who speak in a 'politically correct' manner are somehow Communist? Because then you would basically be calling every single politician, celebrity and public figure in the media during the last 20 years a Communist.

Seriously, what is the point here?

Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
Actually though, it's not me who's saying it...It's Merriam-Webster Dictionary that's saying it. But then again, what is a dictionary for but to define the words (& the origins of words) within the language?

[edit on 1-5-2010 by MidnightDStroyer]