Stuck in an Elevator with Nancy Pelosi

The Joy of Knitting is often a joy indeed. I used to think she was an American ex-patriate, so excellently crafted is her English. But no, she's the real Sophia all right. Who knows what her real name is? No matter; Sophia suits her well. Here's her spot-on definition of pee cee prison:

Political correctness is a form of moral and emotional blackmail whereby if you call a spade a spade you must a) apologize to the spade, b) if you live in the US, take a sensitivity training course, or c) if you live in Old Yurp, you are taken to court for defamation of the aforementioned spade. It’s a perfect way to keep people forever trapped in an endless round of self-guilt, self-blame and self-loathing. As a subtle means of repression, it works wonderfully. Everyone becomes his own watchdog, becoming afraid not only to speak, but even to think.

Think about it: we have willingly internalized the fear of thinking. I must ask Shrinkwrapped what that might be called in psychiatric terms. Being a woman who comes right to the point Dr. Sanity would simply call it horse manure and keep going. Shrinkwrapped, being the analytic sort, would be reflective and perhaps give us the Greek/Latinate neologism. Let's see...

Phobia is 'fear' -- though I've often thought it sounded like someone's name. As in "Horace, I'd like to introduce my Aunt Phobia." Or, "No, I can't go with you. I promised Dysphoria I'd visit."

What should we put in front of phobia to give us the fear of thinking so wonderfully impressed upon us by the Mandarins, that elite group who will do-all-the-thinking-required-thank-you-just-the-same? Since this is a psychiatric condition, let's stick with the Greek; those guys eschew Anglo-Saxon (using English would be a waste of all that medical education). And the Greek for thought is, tah-dah... ιδέα, from whence comes our "idea."

So here you go: a word for p.c. mind control: ideophobia. It's what happens when the Mandarins have taken such control of your thinking processes that you're incapable of entertaining an idea of which they do not approve. The advantage of suffering from this condition is that you'll never be in any danger of having to attend a sensitivity-training course.

Another plus is the fact that if you're ever stuck in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi neither one of you will care because there'll be so much to talk about.