Original scientific paper
Controversy over "political correctness"
Milan Mesić
Abstract
Political Left and political Right blame each other for invention of the
idea of “political correctness” (PC) as well as for actual political interests lying behind it. For the Right political correctness is really a leftist ideological conspiracy and subversive politics, at the first place in the sphere of education. It aims at eradication of the freedom of speech and expression. On the other hand the radical leftist opponents of the rightist anti-PC campaign renounce and even negate any existence of a political correctness practices in a sense of
imposition the speech or behavior codes. According to them, the Right has actually constructed artificially the whole problem exaggerating particular anecdotal cases in order to blur its frontal ideological attack on the social and academic achievements of the Left (from 1960-ies to the thrust of multiculturalism). The debate over “political correctness” (and multiculturalism in a broader sense) has outgrown in “cultural wars”, primarily at the American universities. The article systematizes, in basic lines, the opposing positions, i.e. both typical rightist and leftist narration on “political correctness”. There are, however, the authors who try relatively objectively and impartially to discuss contradictions of intercultural, inter-sexual and other relationships at the universities as well as in broader society now designated with the term “political correctness”.
Keywords
“POLITICAL CORRECTNESS”, TENURE, MULTICULTURALISM; LEFT; RIGHT; NEOCONSERVATIVISM; “LANGUAGE WAR'; “CULTURAL WAR'; FRAMING; ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Hrčak ID:
4483
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2005.
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