I despair of liberal idiots

[Sirotnikov]

he invented political correctness?

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by molly bloom
And I ain't a Libbrul. Well.not according to Libbruls, anyway.

Then why the oversensetive hand wringing?

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Then why the oversensetive hand wringing?

Quoi ?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
he invented political correctness?

Political correctness was a response to the collapse of the New Communist Movement and other social movements in the 1970s. In place of trying to organize an increasingly demoralized or apathetic population and the upsurge of Christian conservatism, many activists and progressives began to simply behave politically correct, i.e., recycling, not using offensive words, etc. The term, "political correctness" was created by the left to put down that sort of thinking, that one need simply act correctly to change the world.

In the late 80s, Allan Bloom of the University of Chicago wrote a book, The Closing of the American Mind, which claimed that universities were no longer open to free expression, that a liberal thought police had shut down any dissent (and also that the classics of education were no longer being taught in place of newer works--du'h, there's only so much time and if you want to cover new stuff, some old stuff will have to be cut). He termed it political correctness. Whether he'd heard the term from progressives or just re-coined it is not known to me.

Bloom's book, in actuality was the beginning of an attack by conservatives on the last place liberals and progressives had any voice or visibility. While speech codes were being instituted at some universities, i.e., no calling other students b!tches, n!ggers, etc., these codes were frequently used against liberals who were protesting against Israel (under the notion that opposing Israel is antisemitic). All across the country, in the guise of "free speech," liberal professors were denied tenure, books were removed from libraries, student organizations shut down, etc. I watched it happen all around me in Chicago.

A recent example occurred just last year, with Alan Dershewitz' campaign against Norm Finklestein, who convinced DePaul University, my old school, to deny Finklestein tenure because his works are highly critical of Israel, a feud which was touched off because Finklestein proved that not only had Dershewitz engaged in plagiarism, but hadn't even bothered to fact check the stuff he was plagiarizing.

I happen to "know" the Dean who made the initial decision to deny tenure over the recommendations for tenure by the faculty. Every time a radical or progressive came up for tenure, not matter the recommendation of the faculty, he or she would be denied. When conservatives came up, again, no matter the recommendation of the faculty, they would be granted tenure. So we lost some really great professors and got some really sloppy ones. And DePaul has a reputation for being a liberal school.

[Kidlicious]

I don't know if they are libbruls or not, but for some reason Santa has to say Ha Ha Ha, not Ho Ho Ho now.

[Wezil]

Kid - Check that at Snopes for the truth.