Yes, Gary, I was comparing Newton and Einstein to "indian dances," philosophy,
medicine, folktales, song and music, painting, craftsmanship, etc.
   On the PC front, my sense is that the word has become a buzz word which is
indiscriminately applied to a range of different issues effecting our
campuses today: a)hate speech acts, which I personally oppose, as a long-time
ACLU supporter; b)affirmative action policies; c)attempts to broaden the
curiculum through multi-cultural education; d) attempts to become more
sensative in our use of potentially offensive language; e)new awareness of
issues of sexual harrassment; f)theoretical commitments steming from Marxist
perspectives, etc. The right wing, which, as a former political scientist
I see as a descriptive term, has sought to link all of these issues together
in the popular imagination, so that attempts to broaden the curiculum to respect
 a more diversified heritage are linked to censorship, while the right conducts
 its efforts to restrict the broadening of the curiculum in the name of
free speech. I do find something Orwellian about these linkages and so far, I
see at least as much horrors being conducted in the name of erradicating PC
from campus as I see in the name of perpetuating PC. I see the word PC used
in reviews of films like Terminator 2, for example, which merely attempts to
include strong female characters, a rare enough occurance in Hollywood films
that I seriously doubt that it will pose much of a threat to anyone's free
speech. :-) I see students who are afraid to express any political view for
fear of being labeled PC. I see the term automatically applied to any position
expressed which is left as center. I personally receive threatening mail from
conservative groups eager to protect My free speech. I teach in a department
where personal differences between senior faculty members gets hauled into court
 under the name of stopping "PC." With one or two exceptions, there are not
any departments that are actually dominated by "tenured radicals." I could
name a large number which are headed by "old farts" who want to teach only the
works of dead white men. So, yes, I find attacks on "PC" tiresome and
 reactionary, unless the person involved is prepared to specify exactly what
 they mean
by PC and what positions, actions, beliefs, they are opposing. I don't want
to be put in a position where I have to defend Hate SPeech acts or preferential
hiring just because I support feminism and multiculturalism. I see no one who
is making "PC" attacks on Gary and Ernie; they raised the issue, but I also
don't want to remain silent in the name of group harmony while they continue
to snipe about this divisive issue.
 
Henry Jenkins