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Wed, 30 May 2007 14:10:30 -0700 |
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It is a buzz word like, Radical Chic, a term thrown around in the 70's.
Anita
>From: "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
> <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Trajectory of PC
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 15:02:59 -0400
>
>The trajectory of PC is interesting in its own right. What started out
>with entirely admirable aims, such as (in this particular instance and
>there are others that vary by region and issue) the absolutely valid
>recognition that folks other than white had a past that was largely
>ignored and for which terms in use were "imposed" by the same folks and
>attempted to find phraseology that accommodated everyone; over time was
>transformed by uncritical adoption (and probably by design by those wont
>to ride such horses to death) to mean anything and everything that didn't
>fit the mental template of those holding it. A sort of Talibanization of
>popular thought.
>
>That in turn allowed what have been called "unreconstructed rednecks" to
>jump on the bandwagon with thinly veiled denigration of the aim of the
>entire structure, presumably hoping to get the proverbial baby thrown out
>with the bathwater.
>
>PC is no different than any other popular culture item. It shoots into
>prominence for valid reasons, and in this case does some initial good,
>then shoots itself in the foot and is largely discarded. BUT, the primary
>effect that PC has had is that not all of it will be thrown out.
>
>When I lived in Britain in the 1970's I saw news clips wherein typically
>intelligent but hopelessly innocent Oxbridge graduates stood in front of
>what everyone in Britain called "yobs" and interviewed them as if they
>were the sudden fonts of all secret knowledge. I believe that the Pythons
>did variants of that in their program. The Yobs were absolutely not open
>to criticism. After a few years of that, it was quietly realized by the
>more intelligent folks that all that came forth was certainly not as right
>as it might have been. What was good was mainstreamed and what was idiocy
>was trashed.
>
>I suppose one might say that pendulums swing in both directions, but the
>clock that is history is constantly moving so that for the most part, the
>swing backwards does not go quite so far as it once was. These discussions
>will ensure that to be the case.
>
>Lyle Browning
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