What the hell is up with this 'politically correct' crap?

[Flying Purple People Eater]

So I've never seen this shithouse term being used where I live but have heard it used constantly over the internet. Well, now I can understand the idiocy because I've heard it used for the first time in reality.

There's this guy at the local shopping center who got into an argument with someone else (I have no idea what over). When he was walking away from the other person towards my direction, I heard him shout 'welfare noonga!' at the fellow. Now, 'noonga' for anyone who doesn't know, is an extremely racist term for indigenous people here, and the person he just shot it at was indeed indigenous.
Not being known to let shit like this slide (I have some family members who've been abused in a similar manner. Racism is common when people are pissed off because it's 'justified' for insults' sake) , I called the guy out on it.

Enraged, the dickhead then went on a tirade at me about being the 'thought police' and 'politically correct'. What in the flying fuck? I'm now the thought police for criticising someone for spewing racist, abusive bile that's almost universally offensive to anyone indigenous there? It's 'politically correct' to not put up with unnecessary bigoted comments? Holy fuck, if this is how shit goes down in America then I am speechless.

Where on earth did this ridiculous term originate?

[Brutus]

It's a liberal invention designed to make it seem like their dealing with racism, ableism, etc. when they're actually just changing words. "Disabled person" became "person with disabilities"; "blind" becomes "visually impaired". It is essentially bourgeois moralism.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

It's a liberal invention designed to make it seem like their dealing with racism, ableism, etc. when they're actually just changing words. "Disabled person" became "person with disabilities"; "blind" becomes "visually impaired". It is essentially bourgeois moralism.

Well I don't know about you, but I'm all for 'bourgeois moralism' if that bourgeois moralism is having zero tolerance for bogans screeching degrading racist bile whenever their temperature goes up.

[Brutus]

Well I don't know about you, but I'm all for 'bourgeois moralism' if that bourgeois moralism is having zero tolerance for bogans screeching degrading racist bile whenever their temperature goes up.

What you said was anti-racist. Political correctness just changes words without combating racism.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

What you said was anti-racist. Political correctness just changes words without combating racism.

I assume then, that the term is commonly misused to denote any criticism of abusive language?

[Brutus]

I assume then, that the term is commonly misused to denote any criticism of abusive language?

Exactly. The BNP (British national party) often talk of "political correctness gone mad", when in reality people are just calling them out when the spout out racist dribble.

[Blake's Baby]

To be 'politically correct', you're probably not allowed to call bogans bogans. 'People of reduced educational and social capital' should about cover it I think. Certainly if you use the American synonym, 'trailer-trash' around here, you're gonna get called out as an elitist who despises the working class.

Yes, 'political correctness' is bourgeois moralism. It addresses symptoms not causes. But as a political punch-bag, it encompases much more than what it really is. Any attempt to challenge white male heterosexual privileges (so, calling out people for people being racists certainly counts) is derided as 'political correctness (gone mad, or not)'. Fact is most of it seems to be made up to discredit the notion of even challenging the words associated with discrimination.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I assume then, that the term is commonly misused to denote any criticism of abusive language?Right, ironically (or maybe not), they are battling over their view of what is polically acceptable (or pollitically correct) which is a society where workers and the oppressed are intimidated into silence about it.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Thanks for the responses, folks.


To be 'politically correct', you're probably not allowed to call bogans bogans. 'People of reduced educational and social capital' should about cover it I think. Certainly if you use the American synonym, 'trailer-trash' around here, you're gonna get called out as an elitist who despises the working class.



Hmm, this is new to me. I've never known the word to carry the meaning 'poor person'. It's often used to refer to any sort of prejudiced, backwards, antiprogressive and overtly-nationalistic person where I live. Perhaps the meaning is different depending on the region?

I mean, the head of the right-wing opposition party is often called a bogan because of his views, and he's pretty damn rich.

[Vanguard1917]

It's a liberal invention designed to make it seem like their dealing with racism, ableism, etc. when they're actually just changing words. "Disabled person" became "person with disabilities"; "blind" becomes "visually impaired". It is essentially bourgeois moralism.

I'd agree. It's a preoccupation with people's vocabulary and so is essentially a set of etiquette guidelines for bourgeois respectability. For example, it's okay for the respectable middle-class man and woman to support laws against immigration but not okay for people to use outdated epithets to describe immigrants. So a middle-aged white working-class man with lots of black and Asian friends who still calls his local off-license a 'paki shop' is a lowlife racist, but the young bourgeois white couple with immaculate PC manners living in an exclusive white suburb that always votes Tory - they're at the forefront of the anti-racist struggle, apparently. Sign them up to Unite Against Fascism.

In other words, political correctness produces a distorted view of the nature of racism and what's needed to combat it. If, as a socialist, you see racism as a matter of lexicon and self-presentation, you easily mistake your friends for your enemies - and vice versa.

[Blake's Baby]

Thanks for the responses, folks.



Hmm, this is new to me. I've never known the word to carry the meaning 'poor person'. It's often used to refer to any sort of prejudiced, backwards, antiprogressive and overtly-nationalistic person where I live. Perhaps the meaning is different depending on the region?

I mean, the head of the right-wing opposition party is often called a bogan because of his views, and he's pretty damn rich.

You don't think 'bogan' carries any kind of class-based baggage? I'm not Australian, maybe it looks different from here, but my assumption (based on usage) is that there's a component of the term that relates social status. Uneducated and 'backwards' doesn't exactly imply the haute-bourgeoisie.

[Red Commissar]

Basically the whole fixation of PC basically begins with examples of it going out of control. You'll see media covering stuff about schools suspending kids with shirts with guns, or maybe some ivory-tower academic saying that using the word "black" in itself is racist and should be banned. This is usually meant to illicit a response and they go into more rants, discovering that there is truth about the country, but it's only liberal imposed PC sharia that's keeping us from fixing the country. In a way they've elevated the PC charge of racism as something like a strawman.

So basically you'll get cases of very zany explanations of welfare, stating that this alone is the main reason why the deficit is bad as it is, and that the politician's reluctance to say that minorities make up the most of this is PC. They'll go further and add that there is some "cultural" difference between the work ethic of whites and say Blacks and Mexicans which they see as reason enough for them not wanting to work. Wait, it's hard to find a job? The community is bad? Stop making excuses for them, you're just being PC! They did this to themselves. In general this is the case when talking heads go on about why minorities are wrecking the economy- they'll level the charge about the government being weak because they won't acknowledge certain "truths" about minorities.

When proposition 8 was going around in California, there was an ad I remember seeing which involved a teacher trying to go over a book covering a same-sex family with the kids clearly uninterested if not disturbed, when the teacher finally makes the "brave" decision to simply cut the lesson short and throw out the book. The insinuation here being that it's PC to try to understand other people- especially if said concept is unnatural as far as they're concerned.

Another case of this comes up rather frequently in islamophobe circles, who'll often counter criticism of their more questionable positions as being PC. So you'll get the ones ranting that Muslims collectively are a violent people due to their texts and that they're all on some bizzare mission to subvert western civilization with sharia implemented through taqiya. It makes no sense so you call them out on this, they have proof this happens and if you don't belive them, it's just PC blinding you. Back in 2008 Rudi Giuliani tried to tap into this in his constituent base by blasting his Dem opponents as being PC because they avoided using the term "islamic terrorism" when speaking about terrorism.

So in my experience when it's employed in the sense that the OP describes it's a reaction from angry conservatives to criticism of their points. Kind of a handwave of allegations of bigotry.

The thing is when the term was originally used it simply referred to cases of people taking terms too seriously, but it has morphed into "well you can't call it hate" kind of deal.

[kashkin]

You don't think 'bogan' carries any kind of class-based baggage? I'm not Australian, maybe it looks different from here, but my assumption (based on usage) is that there's a component of the term that relates social status. Uneducated and 'backwards' doesn't exactly imply the haute-bourgeoisie.

I would argue it does. It is used in a similar manner to redneck (I think) i.e. a quick easy way to shrug off the working class as dumb uneducated hicks who aren't as enlightened as me and my middle class inner city friends. Another common term is 'cashed-up bogan', largely used to insult workers who have high wages (mostly miners) and then spend their money on nice cars, a spa, or other such things.

[human strike]

Ultimately what is "politically correct" is relative. Everyone has an idea of political correctness, whether they call it that or not. The far-right, for example, find racism to be politically correct, but they're not likely to call it that due to the fact the term is associated without dominant liberal ideology.

Stewart Lee on 'political correctness gone mad.'

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[Bea Arthur]

I am stunned. What began as a moving and impassioned story of one young man's courage to confront the overt racism of a member of his community has become a discussion about how unimportant language is, and how pointless political correctness is because it focuses on language.

Language is important! The intervention made by original poster is proof! It is not an issue of political correctness. It is one of understanding that language filters and reinforces our understanding of reality. It should as a result be a large part of our roadmap for how to transform society.

[Orange Juche]

In my experience, 95% of the time "political correctness" is just a bogus term for reactionaries to label anyone or anything calling them out on their bullshit in order to immediately invalidate any criticism of their racism/sexism/etc as stupid/overbearing/etc.

Whether it's defending a racist sports team name, criticizing how women are portrayed in certain works of fiction... the reactionaries just come out of the woodwork, label you as part of the "politcally correct crowd" and then there's no room for discussion, no room for thought, nothing. You are being absurd, you are being overbearing, and their "reasonable" culture/values are being infringed on because of you.

It's a childish term that childish people use so they can continue to get away with their bullshit while immediately invalidating their opponents as overbearing and absurd. It's a phrase that needs to go.

[BIXX]

I am stunned. What began as a moving and impassioned story of one young man's courage to confront the overt racism of a member of his community has become a discussion about how unimportant language is, and how pointless political correctness is because it focuses on language.

Language is important! The intervention made by original poster is proof! It is not an issue of political correctness. It is one of understanding that language filters and reinforces our understanding of reality. It should as a result be a large part of our roadmap for how to transform society.

We aren't saying language isn't important, what we are saying is that you can't say a racial slur is bad but supporting anti-immigration laws or a racist system is ok, simply cause they aren't saying a bad word. Of course we oppose the usage of oppressive language, we just despise the fact that liberals see it as the only problem.

[TaylorS]

"PC" is a term used by reactionaries to justify bigoted speech by attacking their critics as "politically correct". Basically it is part of the whole right-wing nonsense about "Cultural Marxists" brainwashing people.