Originally posted by Old Greg
For what it's worth, I think political correctness attempted to describe language that should and should not be used in relation to groups such as women, gays, ethnic minorities etc...
One of the problems is that the term is often misused. If a public organisation starts translating information leaflets, it will sometimes be labelled as 'political correctness' (often gone mad)' (and therefore a bad thing). It's not political correctness. It's either a waste of money pandering to people who should learn English or making services accessible, depending on your viewpoint. Might be good, might be bad, but it's not political correctness. So I think that political correctness in my original description is useful to an extent, in that it's moved the agenda on from a time when party leaders would describe a gay MP candidate as a poof or a fairy (as I think Kinnock and Hattersley once did). It's also annoying to an extent when you hear some muppet getting worked up about a term that's gone 'out of fashion' with whoever arbitrates these rules. But it's not this great bogeyman that's going to destroy our freedom.
One of the problems is that the term is often misused. If a public organisation starts translating information leaflets, it will sometimes be labelled as 'political correctness' (often gone mad)' (and therefore a bad thing). It's not political correctness. It's either a waste of money pandering to people who should learn English or making services accessible, depending on your viewpoint. Might be good, might be bad, but it's not political correctness. So I think that political correctness in my original description is useful to an extent, in that it's moved the agenda on from a time when party leaders would describe a gay MP candidate as a poof or a fairy (as I think Kinnock and Hattersley once did). It's also annoying to an extent when you hear some muppet getting worked up about a term that's gone 'out of fashion' with whoever arbitrates these rules. But it's not this great bogeyman that's going to destroy our freedom.
pretty good
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