In a long and interesting posting, Burt Hatlen drops this incidental comment: "I believe that the term "political correctness" has been developed by the American Right as a way to discredit any voices that are seeking to call attention to economic and social injustice." Is Burt so indiscriminately leftist that he cannot imagine that there are responsible people who, far from being minions or dupes of the American Right, see the need to criticize the excesses of the Left as well as the Right? But perhaps Burt can see no wrong in the Left? Robespierre never happened? To stay American in my references, does Burt prefer to exclude the violent excesses of recent demonstrations by nice, clean-cut kids at the WTO and Republican Conventions from the spectrum of the American Left? Happily, Burt has not forgotten that the extremes of Left and Right meet in Fascism, but he has unfortunately bought into the extreme-left smear about PC being an invention of the American Right. The term PC, like the term Fascism, as Burt well knows, is meaningful only when clearly defined, not when applied as a catch-all term of opprobrium. As has already been pointed out on this List, there are some excellent books that give philosophically precise and useful definitions of the term Political Correctness. In any case, "economic and social justice" is best served by making precise distinctions, as Pound once said in passing. ==Dan P 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