Quote Originally Posted by jon1959 View Post
It was well worth the time to read that. A very well written and researched article, and I completely agree with the author.

I remember the term 'politically correct' being used by the left in Britain in the late 70s and 80s - and always ironically. I never made the connection with Mao, but it was always a term to deflate someone who was getting too pompous and 'ideological'.

Then came the 90s when the tabloid press (and Mail) started inventing EU 'politically correct' regulations (the equivalent of oblong bananas and sausages renamed 'offal tubes'), claiming that schools could no longer use the term 'black board' and making false claims that some district council had abolished Christmas in order not to offend local muslims. I didn't pick up on the stuff from american universities, but it was all part of the same wave. In the UK and USA 'political correctness' was appropriated by the right and used as a stick to beat political opponents.

In recent years (culminating with Trump) this has gone a big step further and opposition to 'political correctness' (often not real and, if real, usually misrepresented) has become the dog whistle that unleashes prejudice and hate and gives people permission to do so under the flag of 'freedom of speech' or 'liberty'. And all of it is orchestrated by powerful people in politics, media and business who have never been constrained or prevented from preaching their views by any 'liberal elite'. They are the elite, and they have not changed for generations.
Well said Jon. To my mind, what you say, particularly your final paragraph, is right on the button - I know who I'd back to win any power struggle between the "liberal elite", that some would have us think are at the root of all of the world's evils, and the elite you refer to.