Everybody uses words like “politically correct” and “multicultural,” but what do the words really mean? Depends on who you ask. A journalist with the Index on Censorship thought about these terms, and some others, and came up with the following definitions. I agree with them.
Political correctness (PC)
A term originally used ironically by the left to deflate political over-zealousness, now meaning whatever your politics want it to mean, all of it bad.
According to conservatives, a politically correct cabal of leftists, feminists and homosexuals seized control of U.S. universities in the 1980s and is now forcing its politics on everyone else.
According to progressives, this is classic liberal-bashing.
According to people with no strong political orientation, political correctness means that they have to watch what they say.
Political correctness is characterized by, but not limited to, intolerance, humorlessness, self-righteousness, sloganeering and dogmatism.
So is anti-political correctness.
Identity politics
Analysing culture (i.e., everything) by a classification based primarily on race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, though other categories may also be invoked.
Identity politics assumes that what is true of one group is not true of another and that people are defined and limited by the group to which they belong.
Multiculturalism
Acknowledgment that U.S. society is characterized by diversity, variety and pluralism.
Theoretically, multiculturalism is celebratory of difference, in contrast to the idea of the melting pot, and inclusive, in contrast to various centrisms, such as Eurocentrism or Afrocentrism.
Fighting words
Speech likely to incite immediate illegal acts of violence, discrimination or hostility against a clearly identified person or group.
Hate speech
Abusive, insulting, derogatory, harassing or intimidating expression, arising from bias and/or encouraging ill will or discrimination.
First Amendment absolutist
A person who believes the First Amendment means what it says.
Nan Levinson
Index on Censorship
July 1992
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