After giving this matter very little thought, and having conducting no research whatsoever, I have come to the decision that Political Correctness first manifested itself on September 28th 1987.
 
Discuss.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alex The Cake will know the answer.

Seems reasonable.

That's right! That was the exact day when I got told off for saying someone had 'w**ged' my tape measure.

jamesg1213
That's right! That was the exact day when I got told off for saying someone had 'w**ged' my tape measure.

And you called them a d*mn w**ger?

jyoung60

jamesg1213
That's right! That was the exact day when I got told off for saying someone had 'w**ged' my tape measure.

And you called them a d*mn w**ger?

 
I probably said they were a s*****c.

My question is when did the culture of calling everyday politeness 'political correctness' start?

brundlefly
My question is when did the culture of calling everyday politeness 'political correctness' start?

 
Not sure, I believe it started as a description of sticking rigidly to an ideology, and then later became adopted to mean 'not offensive to anyone who might be offended'

As far as I know the term (or the idea behind it) has Marxist roots going back to the Soviets. It's basically a tool used by people with no arguments to sabotage debates they know they can't win. Why bother having to defend your ideology with reason when you can simply declare that it's the only "correct" way of thinking and that everything else is "incorrect"?
 
It's less about a desire to be polite as it is about a desire to dictate what is or isn't polite with no possibility of debate. 

The term politically correct came into use in the aftermath of the Russian revolution, when it meant exactly that. If you were ad odds with the Communist Party view of whatever policy, then you were subject to sometimes very severe consequences. As such one did not have to be very far to the right to find it a useful criticism, but as its popularity as a slur has increased in recent years it is being applied to positions that were not previously considered political at all, and to indicate differences from the user's position that are not imposed by law or any particular political position. If someone does not agree with my position on pretty much anything, I am likely to be accused of forcing him to take my position or stifle his expression of his own as a matter of political correctness, even though I have no power to sentence him to the Gulag.

Nothing wrong with not being unnecessarily offensive/insensitive/tone deaf. I've purged words and faulty/hurtful ideas over the years after either learning their true roots/meanings/intent/end game. If I can avoid making someone feel like crap or uncomfortable simply by avoiding certain words I will (within reason... eg: arseholes may not apply).
 
I've never liked the term PC and it was never used amongst any of the libby lib "SJW"s I've been surrounded by most of my life. I pretty much only ever see it used as a cudgel against pretty solid arguments for general compassion and empathy for your fellow human.
 
It's also kind of infuriatingly hilarious that the people who walk around whacking others over the head with that term as a pejorative generally flip the hell out over the tiniest little slight (imagined or otherwise) against their own delicate sensibilities.
 
It's really quite simple.
 
DBAD*
 
*credit to Wil Wheaton