> Nor are abortion and unions (!) "PC" issues. Whenever people invoke
> PC, they're almost always taking cover for some conventional position
> while trying to appear bold and fresh. Fuck that.
>
> Doug
Fuck that indeed. Often (I'm not accusing Frank of this) it's not even an attempt to appear bold and fresh, but an incantation meant to choke off discussion. Lately I've been on sort of a jihad against the expression "PC" because I hear it all the time at work: PC-this, PC-that. Whenever I hear it now, I ask people to clarify exactly what it is they mean. I'm not a Todd Gitlin fan, but he did write the following in _The Twilight of Common Dreams_ (pb edition, NY, Henry Holt, 1995, p. 171).
"PC was a propaganda slogan from the beginning, a compound of facts and distortions meant to strangle curiosity. By flinging about the scarlet letters, the accuser arranged for a melodramatic confrontation: freedom against slavery. Exuding a love of liberty, he was spared the need to be clear, while pooh-poohing any idea to the left of the current center of gravity of the Republican party, and moreover, appealing (self-righteously!) to the reasonable person's hatred of self-righteousness."
Jacob Conrad