A Politically Correct Dictionary and Guide

Kevin Donnelly is the best thinker and writer in Australia on issues of children’s education and how political correctness is enforcing group think and destroying the language. He has, in the 25 years since I first published his work, been rigorous in outing the effects of faddish left wing approaches to teacher training and educational theory that have so damaged our school system. Chris Mitchell – Past editor of The Australian and journalist. This pithy dictionary records a campaign to lasso or strangle the language. In the process, the campaign often falsifies the past or present. Geoffrey Blainey – Historian. Kevin Donnelly has frequently railed against the dangers of political correctness. This work commendably highlights its stultifying effect on plain speaking. Not everyone will identify with all of the examples he cites, but the volume is a useful contribution to a better understanding of how simple, direct language has been undermined. John Howard Australian Prime Minister. I spend hours, days and weeks at my laptop, working on stories where I have to find exactly the right phrase and progression of thought in words to convey, with accuracy but also originality, what I am seeing in my mind, and feeling in my emotions, to my reader. It’s the duck paddling seemingly effortlessly but with a huge amount of activity under the water. Now that is even harder to do these days - sometimes it feels impossibly hard - as I duck and weave around the PC monitor in my brain …Kevin Donnelly precisely and chillingly depicts what is happening to language and thought under PC regulation and the dangerous history behind it. Read his arguments and be galvanised. -- Shelley Gare – Commentator and journalist. An essential guide to the most dangerous intellectual disease of our time. -- Tony Abbott – Australian Prime Minister. Dr Kevin Donnelly is one of the best friends two generations of young Australians have had. He is a tireless advocate for educational quality and understands what makes a difference. His insights and experience make this book another winner. Tess Livingstone – Journalist at The Australian and author. Political correctness is the antithesis of education. Education is about opening the mind and encouraging thought and that will sometimes include ideas which might be characterised as dangerous. Notions of political correctness are about corralling thought and banishing ideas which don’t fit prevailing prejudices and ideologies. Political correctness has no place in beneficial education.

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