Re: Larry Niven: Terrorize Latinos to Solve Health Care Crisis

On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:25:21 -0700, David Friedman
<ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>In article <io4Sj.456$J16.421@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>> >> "Politically  incorrect" is a term of admiriation and 
>> >> congratulation;
>> >> it means "Good for you for sticking it to the liberals".

>> > I think that is connotation but not denotation. I could imagine
>> > someone advising against saying something because it was politically
>> > incorrect, and so would have undesirable consequences.

>> Who would this someone be?  It couldn't be a liberal, because only 
>> conservatives use that phrase. 

>Actually, I think the phrase originated on the left--probably further 
>left than liberal. But it was enthusiastically adopted by critics of the 
>left. And I don't think its usage is at present limited to 
>conservatives, in any reasonable sense of the term, although I wouldn't 
>expect to hear it from a reasonably orthodox liberal. 

The term, "politically correct", originated on the far left, and is 
still in fairly common use in the mid- to far left.  And not just
sarcastic use, either.  When spoken in earnest, it seems to mean
something like, "will help us win hearts and minds if we say it,
even if it isn't actually true".  With a side order of, "...and
that being the case, saying this whether you believe it or not is
a useful in-group marker among us".

The extension to "politically incorrect", meaning "will cost us 
hearts and minds if we say it, even if it is actually true, thus
them what says it aren't on our side", is obvious, but I don't 
recall seeing that phrasing until it had been mostly appropriated 
by conservatives.  And by now it is mostly sarcastic.


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