In any given society, workforce or political system, there is an expectation to toe the line - whatever the line may be. There are also times when uncomfortable truths will start to crop up - an emperor’s new clothes situation, or whatnot.
For instance, someone in 1960s China having to be the one to tell the government, “No, our farmers are not having bumper crop harvests, and we in fact are headed towards a famine.” Or being the person to tell the C-suite, “No, our workers are in fact leaving in droves because of low wages, and if the CEO were to cut his pay by $10 million and give that to workers, we’d be able to keep a lot of our good laborers.” Or someone having to tell the high school football coach, “No, your son is not a good quarterback, and we’re going to keep losing if we have him behind center.” Or someone in the 1850s South saying “No, slavery is NOT right and we should not continue it.”
The term “political correctness” or “PC” has become so loaded and impossible to agree on what it even means at all, so it may be time to find another term to use. But in each of those situations listed above, there is an official line that is “PC” that is to be toed (for instance, in Communist China, it was PC to say that harvests were great, and un-PC to say that famine was actually on the way. In the corporate suite, it’s PC to say that wages and salaries are good enough, and un-PC to say that workers need more pay and that the CEO is overpaid. In the football team, it’s PC to say that the coach’s son is a good QB, and un-PC to say that he’s not a good QB. In the 1800s South, you were expected to support slavery, and if you opposed it, then YOU were the wrong person. etc.)
“Speaking truth to power” is an alternative that captures the essence, but it’s rather long-winded and doesn’t roll off the tongue as fast. What other substitute words can be used?
Yeah I’d say the idea that political incorrectness is synonymous with telling unpalatable truths, rather than just saying horrible bigoted things, was invented by pseudointellectual conservative commentators who wanted to say horrible bigoted things.
“Politically Correct” originally meant fanatic adherence to political dogma in general.
In the early-to-mid 20th century, the phrase politically correct was used to describe strict adherence to a range of ideological orthodoxies within politics. In 1934, The New York Times reported that Nazi Germany was granting reporting permits “only to pure ‘Aryans’ whose opinions are politically correct”.[5]
The term political correctness first appeared in Marxist–Leninist vocabulary following the Russian Revolution of 1917. At that time, it was used to describe strict adherence to the policies and principles of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, that is, the party line.
Since then of course its meaning has bounced all over.