Does Political Correctness Work?
by Russ Douthat
JANUARY 30, 2015 11:28 AM
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/does-political-correctness-work/?comments#permid=13982072
I find it fascinating that a conservative pundit, like Mr. Douthat, is complaining about "the left" trying to shut down free speech with "political correctness", when Conservatives like Mr. Douthat, have been using the granddaddy of "political correctness", religious doctrine, to shut down debate on significant social issues, such as same-sex marriage, homophopia in general, birth control, and abortion as a legitimate option instead of back-alley procedures.
I am not a big fan of "political correctness", which tends to arbitrarily pervert language and the "meaning" of words and phrases, to the point where we feel obliged to "edit" classic literature such as Huck Finn to satisfy some perverted sense of what is acceptable. However, "free speech" does have its limits. As someone born in Germany, I am constantly reminded of that in the delicate dance German politics has to perform between free polical expression and being congiscent of its dark Nazi political past. The current "PEGIDA" demonstartions in Germany are a case in point.
Similarly, the US needs to be cogniscent of its past supression of African Americans (Blacks?), which still demand its own limits on "free speech" via political correctness. How we draw the lines there in, for example, the current discussion about "police brutality" against blacks on the one hand (which undoubtably occurs) and demonizing the police in general as "baby murderers", will be interesting. Dauthat's piece offeres nothing in that regard.
I am not a big fan of "political correctness", which tends to arbitrarily pervert language and the "meaning" of words and phrases, to the point where we feel obliged to "edit" classic literature such as Huck Finn to satisfy some perverted sense of what is acceptable. However, "free speech" does have its limits. As someone born in Germany, I am constantly reminded of that in the delicate dance German politics has to perform between free polical expression and being congiscent of its dark Nazi political past. The current "PEGIDA" demonstartions in Germany are a case in point.
Similarly, the US needs to be cogniscent of its past supression of African Americans (Blacks?), which still demand its own limits on "free speech" via political correctness. How we draw the lines there in, for example, the current discussion about "police brutality" against blacks on the one hand (which undoubtably occurs) and demonizing the police in general as "baby murderers", will be interesting. Dauthat's piece offeres nothing in that regard.
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