I've seen the Frankfurt School accused of many sins but not of being the originators of Political Correctness. Political Correctness, from my experience has its origins in French intellectual fashions not German ones.
PC is a peculiar combination of Maoist orthodoxy that evolved out of the Cultural Revolution in the sixties, combined with Post Structuralist and Post Modern ideas borrowed from Foucault and Derrida. These ideas became the foundation of Feminist writings in the 1980's. The movement was critical of the history of masculine authority and rationalism is Western thought. It's primary weapons were a revisionist view of history and literature enforced by censorship disguised as culture criticism.
According to the dumbed down version of this doctrine we now popularity called PC, if you criticize another persons opinions you are "insensitive and uninclusive". Everyone's opinion is equally valid regardless of evidence and the strength of the arguement. Indeed, to say you are making a "strong" argument demonstrates your "masculinist" bias towards domination.
I point this out because I spent several years in the 1980's studying the history of the Frankfurt school. If you want to get down to the origins of PC I suggest you look to the origins of Feminist thinking in Foucault, Derrida and Lacan.
If you are interested in finding out what the Frankfurt school were up to, (including post war projects in America funded by the CIA), read Marten Jay's authoritative history on the subject.
http://www.phil-books.com/The_Dialectical_Imagination_A_History_of_the_Frankfurt_School_and_the_Institute_of_Social_Research_19231950_Weimar_and_Now__10_0520204239.htmlThank you for taking time out and adding/redirecting me to the
Feminist thinking in Foucault, Derrida and Lacan.Everyone's opinion is equally valid regardless of evidence and the strength of the argument.
This is extremely true. I was lucky to have graduated from a good school (good instructors that is) where I earned my MBA. The first thing I noticed was respect for everyone’s opinion whether one in the end agreed or not with the conclusion. Every opinion was valid. This is what I loved about my classes, and this is what I have always been use to in everyday encounters with people. Again, it’s “respect” for another person’s opinion(s). I am flexible and willing to learn from the next person, and there is a lot to learn every day. I have never tolerated anybody trying to channel my thoughts and speech (as long it is not foul language) down one barren path on the pretext someone might be offended. I’m not changing for them.