Post #4300 by woofmutt on Wed, Jul 24, 2002 6:39 PM

I loathe the term "politically correct". It's a term that was contrived by conservatives as a way to dismiss attempts by others to show considertaion for minorities, the poor, the environment, et cetera. The notion behind the term "politically correct" is that one is merely doing something because there will be personal (political) gain in doing it. By labeling an action as "politically correct" one can ignore the purpose behind the action. Similarly by prefacing a statement with the tired line "I know it's not politically correct..." one can make any racist, homophobic, sexist, or et ceterist statement one feels like and deny actually having racist (and so on) thoughts or feelings.

Conservatives hang onto their favorite crutch phrase but currently we're in an environment where what is actually "politically correct" is to wave the flag, be suspicious of your dark skinned neighbor, and scream "UNDER GOD!!!" when making a big display of saying the pledge of allegience.