PC: Paleo- vs. Neo-: Old People Edition
There are some notable differences between paleo-PC and neo-PC. One has to do with the status of old people. The paleo-PCs used to list "ageism" (because, as I'm sure you realize, you can just stick '-ism' or '-phobia' onto anything you like...) among its cardinal sins: racism, sexism, classism, ageism... Neo-PC never mentions "classism", and prefers 'misogyny' to 'sexism' (partially because it likes to pretend that it's a one-way street, and 'sexism' can go in either direction.)
But I think the real change is with respect to age. Whereas disparagement on the basis of age used to be, allegedly, akin to racism, neo-PC really, really hates old people--along with whites, males, straights...you know the list--and bitches about them all the time. It's common to read them gleefully anticipating the boomers dying off. They sometimes refer to old people (which paleo-PC used to insist we describe as, e.g., "older Americans) as 'olds.'
Anyway, in general, PC leaves liberalism behind, urging us not to eschew prejudice, but, rather, to merely accept a different, politically correct set of prejudices.
But I think the real change is with respect to age. Whereas disparagement on the basis of age used to be, allegedly, akin to racism, neo-PC really, really hates old people--along with whites, males, straights...you know the list--and bitches about them all the time. It's common to read them gleefully anticipating the boomers dying off. They sometimes refer to old people (which paleo-PC used to insist we describe as, e.g., "older Americans) as 'olds.'
Anyway, in general, PC leaves liberalism behind, urging us not to eschew prejudice, but, rather, to merely accept a different, politically correct set of prejudices.
posted by Winston Smith at
4:29 PM
1 Comments:
Seems like this is very indicative of PC becoming more authoritarian in orientation. The list of badpeople could be argued to be disliked because they are historical oppressors, but it's much more explanatory that they are current adversaries. Classism being dropped is pretty clearly because PC is being pushed by the most priveleged people in America (the SV types and other corporates particularly). That's just such a bad combination.
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