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It's a PC World: What it Means to Live in a Land Gone Politically Correct
 
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It's a PC World: What it Means to Live in a Land Gone Politically Correct (Hardcover)

by Edward Stourton (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 262 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (13 Nov 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340954868
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340954867
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.4 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 303,085 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #94 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Ethical Issues

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Product Description

Review

'a good book . . . [Stourton] is very much alive to the contradictions of political correctness' (Independent )

' thoughtful, witty, self-depreciating and well-read ' (Mail on Sunday )


Product Description

Gourmets who relish foie gras, lovers of language who think that ‘chairs’ are for sitting on, Christians who think that a carol service ought to have something to do with the birth of Christ and old fashioned hacks who believe that telling the truth matters more than hurting people's feelings – almost all of us have a hobby horse we like to ride into battle against Political Correctness. And yet the PC phenomenon just seems to keep growing, touching every facet of our lives from our pleasures to our politics.

Why? Could it be that this much-derided scourge of the modern world contains a germ of goodness? Edward Stourton finds examples in all walks of life – and explodes a few myths along the way. His witty and thought-provoking manoeuvres through the pros and cons of PC are both entertaining and at times unexpectedly disturbing.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Good effort, but must try harder, 1 Nov 2009
By D. Brooks "renaissance man" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: It's a PC World: What it Means to Live in a Land Gone Politically Correct: What It Means to Live in a World Gone Politically Correct (Paperback)
If you are like me, and you're fed up with Political Correctness having overstayed its welcome in our minds and culture, you're probably angry and seeking solace, seeking some intelligent stimulation as an antidote to the dumbed down cultural and moral relativism endemic in our schools, media, workplaces and, of course, government.

If that is the case, then this book is not for you. Rather bizarrely, I could almost describe it in rather paranoid terms (which fills me with glee knowing a member of the PC militia will be caused great anxiety at the prospect), in that it almost seems Stourton has written an attempt to appease, apologise, make excuses for, and generally extinguish any 'dangerous' thoughts any decent person may have for being utterly sick of the supremacist ideology of Political Correctness.

Political Correctness is what is correct to a certain political outlook. Even having managed to get through the whole waffly introduction, Stourton doesn't even come close to this simple description. The closest he comes is explaining its origins: Mao Tse Tung's 'Little Red Book', which found its way to American university campuses, post-Cultural Revolution in China.

So Political Correctness is Marxist in origin. From the implications and lessons from history this should be enough to fill anyone's mind with serious questions as to where PC will take us, the longer it remains in our society. The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, a Marxist regime sought to separate parents from children in a bid to eradicate the 'corrupt' knowledge inherited from generation to generation, all in a bid to create a Marxist utopia. And as Christopher Hitchens remarked, after having visiting the Stalinist regime of north Korea, "George Orwell couldn't have been more accurate."

As I started to read what I thought were to be yet more ideas in which I could relax with and seek solace, I was enraged to find Stourton has no intention of explaining, nor making clear the full extent of what political correctness is, nor how it affects our society in negative ways (because that would be very un-PC). He even states at the end of the introduction "I intend to confuse and infuriate as to what PC really means...".

PC dictates that no one from the ruling elite can do right, no one from the ethnic minorities can do wrong. The implications of PC are beginning to show in the way we conduct affairs internationally too. It means that it is un-PC to criticise a black man if he's the leader of a nation which is suffering famine due to his poor or corrupt, or worse, leadership skills (that is not to say we should cease aid for the victims). PC means turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic race hate crimes in your own European state, because the perpetrators of the crimes are from an oil-producing nation. The values of PC are inherently anti-Enlightenment, anti-French Revolution and all the values that have taken centuries for the West to evolve into.

Thankfully, having read the books Sourton axes in this befuddling diatribe, I had already crossed the 'dreaded' threshold to post-PC enlightenment, and understood that a society, and culture, could exist which could be proud of its achievements, attempt to excel to the highest common denominator (instead of the lowest, as is standard procedure with Politically Correct extremists) but at the same time, was not insensitive to minorities, not inadvertently racist and able to learn from its historical mistakes, without actually spending the rest of eternity punishing white middle aged males; the previous beholders of power; the former leaders of society, but also the oppressors of women, minorities and various indigenous peoples throughout the colonised world.

Interestingly enough, it seems Stourton has been a victim of the PC brigade within the BBC himself, having been summarily dismissed for reasons unknown, but for which some fellow journalists have blamed the BBC's tyrannical policy of 'dumbing down' its output. Stourton was simply incompatible with the BBC's image, with the nickname 'Posh Ed', he seems to have been just a bit too... err, well 'posh'; Posh obviously meaning one of the highly educated elite, white 'ruling classes'. The serious implications for the BBC being that someone of lesser intelligence may have accidentally tuned in to Stourton on his radio show and been 'offended' by the program?

Although I'm sympathetic at the seemingly awful way in which Stourton was dismissed, I did get the overwhelming feeling Stourton was trying not to vindicate their decision, by writing an un-enlightening, tame book on a topic which contains many difficult societal issues of our generation. Not recommended.

For those wishing to 'cut to the chase' I'd recommend:

The Retreat of Reason: Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Modern Britain (Second Edition)

The Poverty of Multiculturalism

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A serious exploration of the topic, 2 Jan 2009
By Bluebell (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Edward Stourton has been an admirable and courteous presenter/interviewer on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme for many years and I was dismayed when I heard he was to be dropped for no good reason. I bought his book as an act of support not knowing what it would be like. It could have been a jokey compilation of some of the idiotic consequences of political correctness taken to extremes, however, though there are some very funny anecdotes, it is a serious analysis of the topic. It's a scholarly review going back much further historically than I had imagined would be necessary to find the roots of PC. The author doesn't have a particular axe to grind for or against the value of a PC society but allows readers to make-up their own minds. Enjoyable and thought-provoking.
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3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars PC World, What it's Like to Live in a Land Gone Politically Correct, 17 Nov 2008
An important reflection on the PC world we all live in. Scholarly, serious and sometimes very funny.
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