where does the political term left and right come from
Left–right political spectrum The terms "left" and "right" appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president's right and supporters of the revolution to his left. One deputy, the Baron de Gauville, explained, "We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp." However, the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occasionally used the terms "left" and "right" to refer to the opposing sides.[6]
Political correctness The contemporary usage of the term emerged from conservative criticism of the New Left in the late Twentieth Century. The phrase was widely used in the debate about Allan Bloom's 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind,[7][9][12][13] and gained further currency in response to Roger Kimball's Tenured Radicals (1990),[7][9][14][15] and conservative author Dinesh D'Souza's 1991 book Illiberal Education, in which he condemned what he saw as liberal efforts to advance self-victimization and multiculturalism through language, affirmative action, and changes to the content of school and university curricula.[7][8][14][16] The term was also the subject of articles in The New York Times and other media throughout the 1990s.[17][18][19][20][21][22]