Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - Pál Csontos: Is Political Correctness Politically Correct? A Tour along the Alleyways of the Shambles Called Political Correctness

Controlling student incivility threatens to become, formally or informally, a means of controlling curricula and faculty too" (115). The examples he discusses raise a number of concerns, leading him to the conclusion that the PC movement, as "contemporary sanctification of the group" can create a situation in which "the old idea of coherent society" is put to stake, because "[m]ulticultural zealots reject as hegemonic the notion of a shared commitment to common ideals" (117). Schlesinger is not the only observer who has his doubts concerning the ultimate potential outcomes of PC taken seriously. However, others seem to be a lot less alarmed by the impending "cultural tower of Babel" (Hughes 89), as the following definition might illustrate: "politically correct. Culturally sensitive; multiculturally unexceptionable; appropriately inclusive. The term 'politically correct

,' co-opted by the white power elite as a tool for attacking multiculturalism, is no longer 'politically correct'" (Beard 100). Thus, political correctness can be viewed in two, if not diametrically, yet nevertheless opposed, fashions: the serious and the humorous. What for a roughly 5-6 year long period might have appeared to the uninitiated as mere play on words, creating a multitude of adverbially premodified adjectival lexical units,

9 has turned out to be an effective double-edged weapon defending the trad itionally defenseless

.

1

0 " as the "most frequently used linguistic form in the construction of culturally appropriate language" (Beard 4) 1

0 i.e., for example, minorities ["minority groups. Members of the world's majorities; emergent groups; traditionally underrepresented communities" (Beard 97).] E.g.: "Jew. Jewish person. 'Some people,

1 say the Fellows [sic] of the University of Missouri Journalism School's Multicultural Management Program, 'find the use of Jew alone offensive,' and, therefore, it is to be avoided" (Beard 94); or women ["woman. Wofem; womban; womon; womyn; woperson; person of gender" (Beard 107).] E.g.: "seminar. Ovarium; ovular (especially when women are among the attendees)" (Beard 102), etc. 30