Political correctness is, perhaps, the left's favourite prop to promote policies which have been redefining our perception of truth; it is a truth devoid of culture or context. While some can see through the game, others get swayed by it

The term political correctness (adjectivally: Politically correct) is used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offence or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. Since the late 1980s, the term has come to refer to avoiding language or behaviour that can be seen as excluding, marginalising, or insulting groups of people considered disadvantaged or discriminated against, especially groups defined by sex or race.

It can be best described as a set of attitudes rather than an ideology, since viewed philosophically it is based on assumptions that are no longer open to question, and so the question of truth eludes us. It demands that correctly descriptive words are replaced by more innocuous ones to obscure the truth. Political correctness is part of an effort to delegitimise reason in favour of emotion.

All manner of self-proclaimed leftists, Marxists and liberals have exploited this concept to further their anti-establishment stance particularly in liberal democracies. This has been used to incite target sections of people towards anti-Government agitations. This is very true in India where Muslims, for example, are seen as vote-banks by the left liberal elites and history is often misinterpreted/distorted to suit political convenience.

Politically correctness is mostly associated with ‘deculturation’. It is a phenomenon in which a particular group is deprived of one or more aspects of its identity. Humans need truths to believe in. Whereas in the past, those truths tended to be transmitted through cultures, they are now increasingly produced instantaneously (mostly under the garb of political correctness) without cultural mediation. This is redefining our perception of truth; it is a truth devoid of culture or context.

It has its roots in an intrinsically narcissistic impulse. That’s why it thrives particularly well in neoliberal environments and social media because these enable individuals to recycle their own selves without being confronted with the culture of the other.

It is also rooted in radicalisation. Radicalisation occurs when religions proclaim themselves as culturally neutral and “pure”. When religions are disconnected from concrete cultural values, their truths become absolute.

left liberals in India have typically this attitude. They deny Indian culture; they distort history; they are not open to any debate or counter view; they are propagandist and radical in their pursuit.

In the global arena, the emergence of US President Donald Trump and the push for Brexit are essentially a response to this attitude of the left liberals. Ordinary people resent such a narrative forced on them. Attempts at Islamisation of Europe, the US and India are indirectly supported through this attempts at deculturation.

Another crucial element in such matters is that truth is often distorted or lies established through propaganda. left liberals are pushing the narrative that the Gujarat model of development is an inequitable model vis-a-vis the Kerala model.

However, the truth is otherwise and they would do well to note that the Kerala model is a highly inequitable one, with a Gini Index reading of 0.37 and 0.44 for rural and urban Kerala, respectively, as per available estimates from the National Sample Survey Office.

On the contrary, the Gini Index reading for rural and urban Gujarat stands at 0.26 and 0.29 respectively, reflecting greater equality. There is another propaganda that has been going on from colonial times. To counter the well documented atrocities of (mainly medieval Islamist), including destruction of Hindu temples, left liberals started pushing the thesis that Hindu rulers too destroyed Buddhist and Jain shrines.

Sometimes, people see though the game; on other occasions they are swayed by such propaganda. As Napoleon Bonaparte famously said:   “History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

 (The writer is an author and a commentator)