I have three thoughts:
First, the virtue of making an effort to avoid harming someone, emotionally or materially — for example by not telling insulting jokes about them, spreading stereotypes or otherwise delegitimizing them — seems like a human universal, not specific to an awareness that began in the 1980s nor in any country.
Second, if some data set doesn’t fully reflect human diversity or isn't adequate for whatever purpose you need it for, yes, that’s a data problem. Maybe different data could or should have been collected. It seems to me — though I’m not an expert here — that if an algorithm is built on bad data, the algorithm is flawed too. The analogy that comes to me is using inadequate bricks to build a house, then saying the problem "isn’t the house, it’s the bricks," then trying to hide the flaws with paint to "improve the house despite the bricks." If an algorithm depends on data, everyone has to think more carefully about the data at an early stage, because the data is (in some sense) part of the algorithm. This doesn't mean the algorithm has no flaws and causes no harm; it means those problems are difficult to solve.
Third, if the algorithm were simply a mirror to reality, then yes, we’d just have to accept whatever it shows. But the algorithm is created to show selected slices of reality and further to present those pictures in certain ways. Also, algorithms aren’t merely descriptive, they’re normative. Humans are nudged by algorithms to change our behavior, which means an algorithm isn’t only past-looking but also forward-looking. We’re telling algorithms what future version of ourselves we’d like to become. If we want to become less harmful (e.g., “politically correct”), then yes, it’s valid for us to nudge an algorithm in that direction (even though it doesn’t reflect our current reality) so that the algorithm in turn will nudge us in that direction. This relates to the question of: Many people aren't politically correct, so why expect that of algorithms? But this is like calling a taxi: Not only do I tell the taxi driver where to find me right now, I also tell the taxi driver where I'd like to go.
