Indeed.  And like so many buzz words, it means different things to different people.

In my experience, such as it is, PC is a club used by people of various different political ideologies to beat up on their opponents.  Its rare--again, in my experience--to see the term used by non-ideological people and for non-ideological purposes.  For that reason, I don't think it has a lot of analytical (as opposed to rhetorical) value.  

PC is just a label.  Much better to talk about particular instances, as they crop up.  Like most labels used for ideological purposes, I find that it tells us much more about the person using it than it does about the particular phenomena it allegedly represents.

For saying this, of course, I will no doubt be accused of being "PC."

All best,
Kevin

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 14:10:30 -0700
>From: Anita Wills <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: Re: The Trajectory of PC  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>It is a buzz word like, Radical Chic, a term thrown around in the 70's.
>
>Anita
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University