Hermes Index
(With apologies to Harpers Magazine)
1. Media articles mentioning "political correctness" in 1989: 15
2. In 1990: 65
3. In 1991: 1,570
4. In 1992: 2,835
5. In 1993: 4,914
6. In 1994: 6,985
7. Percentage of incoming male freshmen surveyed nationally in 1990 who felt it important that homosexual relationships be legally prohibited: 56%
8. Of incoming female freshmen: 35%
9. Percentage of college faculty who think that many courses include a minority prespective: 33%
10. Percentage who assign readings on race and gender: 11%
11. Percentage fewer new doctorates men earn than women: 12%
12. Percentage more tenure track positions men receive than women: 22.3%
13. Percentage of regular applicants admitted to Harvard between 1981 and 1988: 16.9%
14. Percentage of alumni children: 35.7%
15. Percentage of recruited athletes: 48.7%
16. Percentage of faculty at research universities who are white men: 66.5%
17. Who are white women: 21%
18. Who are Black: 3.2%
19. Who are Latino: 1.9%
20. Faculty at lower paying two-year colleges who are white women: 37.7%
21. Who are Black: 6.1%
22. Who are Latino 4.1%
23. Percentage of US health care workers that were doctors and nurses in 1968: 52%
24. Percentage that were bureaucrats: 18.1%
25. Percentage that are doctors and nurses now: 44%
26. Percentage that are bureaucrats now: 27.1%
27. Percentage of top executives that are white males: 96%
28. Percentage of men’s work that is unpaid: 34%
29. Percentage of women’s work that is unpaid: 66%
30. Percentage of world’s families where women are the sole breadwinners: 25%
31. Percentage of US families consisting of a working husband, a housewife, and kids: 10%
32. Amount of child support US fathers failed to pay as of 1990: $24 billion
33. How many times larger the pay of the aveage CEO was than the average worker in the US twenty years ago: 35
34. Today: 187
35. Today in Germany: 21
36. Today in Japan: 16
37. Amount of lead a BritaFilter removes from water: 93%
38. Percentage of Americans who believe that humans descended from simpler forms of life to their present state: 9%
39. Percentage of Americans who respond positively when asked if they believe in evolution: 45%
40. Percentage of Chinese who respond positively to same question: 70%.
SOURCES 1-22: The Myth of Political Correctness by John K. Wilson, 23-26:
In These Times, March 4-17, 1996. 27-32: The New Yorker, February 26 & March 4, 1996
(one issue). 33-36: The Nation, April 8, 1996. 37: the BritaFilter Company. 38-40:
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.