The origins of "PC"...may surprise you!

[Doug S.]

It appears that Political Correctness has been around much longer than I realized...we've all read the definition, but it was a surprise to me to find out where it originated.

The following is from a "Joke a Day" email one of my friends sends every day, but is purported to be legit:

"An unnamed source there sent me copies of four telegrams
that were between Harry Truman and Douglas MacArthur on the day before
the actual signing of the Surrender Agreement. The contents of those
four telegrams below are exactly as received, not a word has been
added or deleted!


Tokyo, Japan (1) 0800-September 1,1945
To: President Harry S Truman
From: General D A MacArthur
Tomorrow we meet with those yellow bellied bastards and sign the Surrender
Documents, any last minute instructions?


Washington, D C (2)1300-September 1,
1945To: D A MacArthur
From: H S Truman
Congratulations, job well done, but you must tone down your
obvious dislike of the Japanese when discussing the terms of the
surrender with the press, because some of your remarks are
fundamentally not politically correct!


Tokyo, Japan (3) 1630-September 1, 1945
To: H S Truman
From: D A MacArthur and C H Nimitz Wilco
Sir, but both Chester and I are somewhat confused. Exactly what does
the term politically correct mean?


Washington, D C (4)2120-September 1, 1945
To: D A MacArthur
From: H S Truman
Political Correctness is a doctrine, recently fostered by
a delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream
media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible
to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end!"

Truman was truly a man before his time, don't you think?

Cheers!

Doug

 

[Keith]

Amusing but very dubious Doug....

"The term "politically correct" was used disparagingly, to refer to someone whose loyalty to the Communist Party line overrode compassion, and led to bad politics. It was used by Socialists against Communists, and was meant to separate out Socialists who believed in egalitarian moral ideas from dogmatic Communists who would advocate and defend party positions regardless of their moral substance."

 

[Grady]

I vote for Doug's explanation.

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Amusing. Shifting forward to today's world, I cringe when I hear the term PC being used to demean one for being tactful in their opinions or comments. At some point it became too much trouble to tactfully address someone else's point of view, and instead resort to a simple unfiltered response.

 

[Jack]

Exactly Ox!

 

[Howard Jones]

Doc............does that mean that the democrats have been communists, not socialists, all along?

 

[Howard Jones]

Damn, I meant, Colonel.

And.......tact means saying "was that a moose?" when someone farts. Instead of "was that Mexican again for lunch Bob?"

Not encoring the truth because your peer group will condemn you for stating it if it sheds a negative light on their position.

 

[Keith]

Damn, I meant, Colonel.

And.......tact means saying "was that a moose?" when someone farts. Instead of "was that Mexican again for lunch Bob?"

Not encoring the truth because your peer group will condemn you for stating it if it sheds a negative light on their position.

You got me with this intellectual stuff Howard, I mean the 'encoring' is waay over my head...:uneasy:

 

[Robert May Eng.]

Amusing but very dubious Doug....

"The term "politically correct" was used disparagingly, to refer to someone whose loyalty to the Communist Party line overrode compassion, and led to bad politics. It was used by Socialists against Communists, and was meant to separate out Socialists who believed in egalitarian moral ideas from dogmatic Communists who would advocate and defend party positions regardless of their moral substance."

Kin masterpiece :lol:

Bob

 

[Howard Jones]

"acknowledging" was what I was going for..........not sure where "encoring" came from. Getting older everyday.

I went to the Harry S Truman library near Kansas City once. I was at a conference in town and a vendor took some of us to dinner at the library. They had a impersonator in attendance and he had dinner at my table. I had to remind myself several times that Truman was dead. The man had Harry down to a tee and looked exactly like him in his white panama suit, cane, and suit.

If you are ever nearby it's worth a visit.

Harry S. Truman Library and Museum

Truman was the last of our citizen presidents. If he was anything like this man then he was a man of straight spoken words. You didn't wonder what he had said or meant when he finished a thought. It was a tremendously interestingly evening. On using the nuke on Japan he said that it was simply a choice of our boys or theirs and it wasn't much of a choice at all, it was the only thing he could or would do.

My dad though he was the best President we ever had. My dad was a Democrat all his life but he voted for R Regan twice. Democrats were a different party back then. He also said that Truman saved his life by using the bomb on Japan. My dad was certain to have been in the invasion force of Japan as he was going to a carrier in 1946. He always believed that if the Japs got another shot at him then that would be it. My dad was a Pearl Harbor survivor, USS Oklahoma.

My uncle said the same thing. The bomb saved him. Uncle Phil was wounded twice, at Pelieu and Okinawa. 1st Marine Div. ALL the Marines were going to Japan for the invasion.

 

[Jack]

 

[Dimi Terleckyj]

I have always lived by the philosophy that "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck" then that's what it is and that's what I will call it no matter what anyone would like to hear.

As far as I am concerned PC is just a load of Duckshit for people that can't handle the truth.
Dimi.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Well said Dimi, totally agree.

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Nice story but sadly not true: snopes.com: Harry S. Truman on Political Correctness

As referenced I doubt HST used the term "mainstream media" 50 years before Rush made it a right wing pejorative. In 1945 there was likely no one using the term "media" to describe newspapers and radio much less newsreels all of which were the news dissemination means at the time.

 

[Howard Jones]

Rick, I read your link three times and I am sorry to say that nowhere does it reference a source that denies that the telegram exchange is fake or otherwise not true. It does suggest that there may be reasons to believe it may not be, but they are circumstantial.

I think Harry just might have said that to his highness General MAC.

 

[Doug S.]

Nice story but sadly not true: snopes.com: Harry S. Truman on Political Correctness

I was wondering as I posted the story whether or not I should "Snope" it...guess I should have!

Cheers!!

Doug

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Truman was perhaps the last no-bullshit President we had. Although I think history has been unfairly unkind to Johnson; he was not a pleasant man at all, but he did a lot of great things for the country. Also a few fuckups, naturally.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

I Think Obama is the best president America has had. And Hillary will be even better.


Which proves kiddies you should never believe anything you see on the internet.
:laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Rick, I read your link three times and I am sorry to say that nowhere does it reference a source that denies that the telegram exchange is fake or otherwise not true. It does suggest that there may be reasons to believe it may not be, but they are circumstantial.

I think Harry just might have said that to his highness General MAC.

Why would the term "mainstream media" be used when term the term "media" was not even widely used? At the time the "media" was called the "press" which then consisted of newspapers, radio and newsreels. There was no "alternative media" i.e. no blogs, webcasts, syndicated talk shows, etc.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Pete, you dog, you.

I was very keen on Obama- donated, campaigned, the works. I've been disappointed with him, although I'm disappointed in the performance of the entire government over the last eight years. I can think of ONE senator who I don't regard as a complete fuckup- and she's retiring.

I HOPE I don't have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton- she really makes me sick. I may abstain from a presidential election for the first time in my entire life.