HATLEN:>1. I object to ALL uses of the term "politically correct" because use
>of this label is a form of ad hominem argument.  That is, rather than
>addressing the arguments raised by a speaker, the term simply seeks to
>discredit the speaker as a person. ...

DP: So-called leftists like to use the label "fascist" in the same way,
as an indiscriminate smear-word.  However, just as "fascist" can be
used responsibly, by "addressing the arguments raised by a speaker,"
so too we can expect someone who uses the label "politically correct"
to be able to apply it to specific behaviors or mindsets.  The Ellis
book I've mentioned makes just these needed discriminations.  In the
mind of any fanatic, of the left or the right, the world is split
into black and white and there are no shades of gray between.  The
PC mindset that Ellis analyzes would, for example, throw the tainted
Pound out of the academy altogether--would get rid of the baby with
the bath.  Neither Burt nor I would be happy if this application of
Political Correctness were to succeed.

==DP

HOME:
Dan Pearlman
102 Blackstone Blvd. #5
Providence, RI 02906
Tel.: 401 453-3027
email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: (253) 681-8518
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/

OFFICE
Department of English
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 874-4659