When did this country become so PC that the worst crime is to offend a minority group?

Answer 1

During WWII there was a huge propaganda effort to unite the various ethnics groups of the country. We were fighting Germany and Italy and the majority of Americans were of German or Italian descent. Derogatory terms for various ethic groups that were commonly used by people who came of age before the war were practically never said by the next generation. (see the Nixon tapes for examples) The Holocaust made the expressions of antisemitic feeling forbidden, and the civil rights movement added the N word to the forbidden list. It is not a crime, but use of such language will get you shunned by most people, and in a lot of trouble if you are a public figure.Racial slurs cost Ford administration Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz and Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt their jobs. Vice Presidents Spiro Agnew and Dan Quayle had to apologize for ethnic affronts. So did presidential contenders Jesse Jackson and Ross Perot.

Answer 2

You realize of course that the only reason the term politically correct even exists is because the media-newspapers, etc. only publish what the owners of those media outlets allow. People will always be offended regardless, and oftentimes unknown minority groups are never known to be offended. There will always be differences. It's when people are unwilling to let go of the past and continue to rant that they are discriminated against because of such and such, rather than doing the sensible thing and rising above pettiness.

Answer 3

I think it began around 1990, but that's just me.