Neil wrote:

This is not *politically correct. 1875 N.Y. Times 19 Dec. 2 The other ninety 
odd
thousand charges are all true, and politically correct. 1934 J. STRACHEY 
Lit. &
Dialectical Materialism 47 We are sometimes a little apt to pretend, to 
wish, to


Although I cannot remember exactly when it was (early 80's?) I can remember 
almost precisely when I first heard the new expression "politically 
correct".
The reason I can remember it is because I knew exactly what it meant when I 
heard it.
To me, now, as I examine the meaning I would say that it came into use as a 
result of what was a major and very profound tectonic shift in 
American/Western culture as what had formerly been considered Radical 
assimilated itself into our culture and became the Norm.
The paradigm for almost everything in our way of life.....art, religion, 
manners, speech patterns, education and studies, morals, historical 
interpretation, child rearing, politics, the press....even the way 
professionals like lawyers and doctors began to view themselves as 
capitalists who could and should and would venture into areas that were once 
considered unethical like advertising themselves and their wares took an 
almost sudden shift and were quickly accepted and assimilated into our 
culture.
The paradigm changed but as many, many persons chose to remain outside of 
that new paradigm and decided not to subscribe to the new one, they quickly 
saw that theirs had become the "incorrect" view and that it was this new 
attitude that was the accepted norm, the status quo, the politically correct 
view.
For example, I was the lone conservative in a book club back in the 80's and 
90's. Our reading selections reflected the views of the liberal majority and 
I usually found myself supporting the minority viewpoint. A defining moment 
in my life was when we were in a discussion regarding political matters and 
taxation and the welfare state. As my friends in the book club and I got 
more and more into a particular discussion on the subject of welfare the 
point finally narrowed down to one thing and that was this: I wanted to know 
why should I pay taxes to support the immoral lifestyle of teenage girls who 
were choosing to have multiple children out of wedlock that they could not 
afford to house, clothe or educate much less nurture and love in a mature 
responsible manner.
We did not go into the area of discussion of where the fathers of these 
children would be or the purposes in deliberately getting pregnant (whether 
or not it might have been to simply get a larger check from the government) 
or if these mothers were drug users. We kept the discussion simple and to 
the point about supporting a lifestyle that some of us might consider 
immoral and detrimental to society as a whole. I found myself backed into a 
wall and the LONE member of the club who thought that there ought to be SOME 
restrictions placed on welfare mothers; some thing that might discourage out 
of wedlock births.
Well, all I can say is that when I began to be accused of racist attitudes 
for my "paradigm" was when I saw very clearly that the views that I held had 
become part of an old paradigm and were no longer politically or socially 
"correct".
I had to concede month after month at my little book club meeting that 
certain ideas about life in the United States had irrevocably changed 
forever and that the older ways were now politically incorrect.
To me that is what the term means and from whence it stems today.
Deane F. Mills
York Co, VA