Self-Censorship in Public Discourse: A Theory of 'Political Correctness' (1994) [pdf]
There is PC, and there is the accusation of PC. One is held to be self-censorship. The other is a tool to disarm your opposition by accusing them of behaviours which disfavour their intellectual honesty, or claim your own views are being excluded.<p>Speaking in code is normal. &quot;we dont like your sort&quot; is a phrase which can crop up in a western, bad guys talking to good guys, or in a realtors office &quot;white realtor to black purchasor&quot; or in a cake shop &quot;christian cake maker, to gay couple&quot; -There is no visible pejorative quality to <i>your</i> or <i>your sort</i> but contextually its understood.<p>The PC moment, is denying the existence of the power relationships in the topic. I have an intense dislike of a six letter word used in the times of Mark Twain and others to discuss african-americans. I cannot abide the word, I walk out of conversations where it comes up, and I avoid its use. I am appalled by the ?ironic? re-adoption of this word by the rap community, it is a huge thorn in the side of millions of people worldwide.  Is this being PC? its what I feel. If somebody cannot rationally discuss race relations in the USA without use of this word, what have we come to? is english as a language so bancrupt, we have no alternatives?<p>The odd thing for me, is that the five letter alternative also starting with N, Negro, is now also a pejorative, when for so many years it wasn&#x27;t. Truly, this is a minefield to negotiate. Then African-American, now people of colour. I like &quot;people of colour&quot; a lot. But I also know, in some time to come, it too will fall from grace. Yet, my residual hate for the six letter word remains. Nothing said here about PC will rid me of a sense the word is wrong, its use is wrong, and the intentionality using it, strongly disposes me to characterise somebody as belligerent in a power relationship.<p>Even used ironically.