> Perhaps, during pomo (until what I like to call the pomogroms),
Now THAT is funny. I am going to steal it.
> there was a brief period when some overlap could be found
> between hippie, liberal and [academic] left centred around
> some form of relativism.
Hmmm. I'm not sure that "relativism" offers much to rally round.
> But I entered the American campus when the reactionary phase
> was at its peak, and the term PC was hurled at anyone unwilling
> to accept the status quo as naturally ordained.
Yes, indeed. The problem, as I see it, is that the people the term was mainly "hurled at" had a very inadequate critique of the status quo, and it's hardly surprising that they were routed, on every level. As the poet says,
History to the defeated
May say Alas but cannot help or pardon.
> what was being achieved through the popularisation of the term
> of opprobrium was a blanket dismissal of alternate starting
> positions to explain the same empirical outcomes.
Clearly, better starting positions are needed -- no? Not all alternative "starting positions" are good or fruitful ones.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://www.cars-suck.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com