Friday, October 27, 2006

Political Correctness is the New Colonel Blimp

I spoke to someone who did History with me at university. He went on to do an MA then a PhD and now has a minor academic post (doesn't pay very much). It is the sort of career I once contemplated. Anyway, he has just written an article on the historical context of Political Correctness, demonstating that it is related to the Colonel Blimp phenomenon, which I thought was quite interesting (Political Correctness is the New Colonel Blimp - not sure what journal).

Note: Colonel Blimp was a cartoon figure of the 1930s that satirised establishment opinions: pompous, contradictory, hopelessly out of touch with the real world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Blimp
http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/cardiff/gallery/col_blimp.html

2 comments:

a from l said...

I will try and get a draft copy James and e-mail it to you.

I dislike political correctness because it always involves one person trying to manipulate another.

I used to think it was Orwellian doublespeak but the article demonstates it is less calculating and more akin to petty officiousness.

Anonymous said...

Health and Safety is the new Colonel Blimp!!! H&S is full of blimps!!!