Politically Correct/ Incorrect??

I guess I'm too much of a mid-westerner to get too excited or too over-wrought about the topic, but does anyone really understand the current status of being politically correct--or incorrect for that matter?
I can remember a time when "correctness" was just another name for "manners"...one didn't say something hurtful in another's presence. We all remember being told by someone that if we couldn't say anything nice about someone, then we weren't to say anything at all. That seemed to do the trick.
Then, someone got the great idea to have to point out every little detail that might aggravate, irritate, or infuriate someone even the slightest. This, in turn, then aggravated, irritated, and infuriated any person who disagreed with any of those details...and the cycle continued.
Then, after this madness went on, someone hashed up the idea that a 180 degree approach was in order, so then "political incorrectness" took center stage. People decided that the way to deal with all issues was to purposely aggravate, irritate, and infuriate everyone--that way no one was left out. Yikes.
So, I have a proposal...let's take a week and just head back to the middle. Let's follow some simple rules that don't take too much effort...how about treating others the way we want to be treated? How about thinking about others first before ourselves? That should do it :).