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Jeffrey Sachs @JeffreyASachs
, 8 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
I don't know if there's anything left to say about the concept of political correctness that hasn't already been said a thousand times over. Seems pretty clear to me that like "judicial activism", it's a meaningless term we use to discredit whatever we don't like.
That's my complaint with @Yascha_Mounk's thread yesterday, one shared by @cjane87 and @Noahpinion, among others.



Be sure also to check out some contrary findings from the 2016 ANES Pilot Survey, as described here.

demos.org/blog/6/1/16/ne…
Where things get interesting is when purveyors of the term, savvy to this problem and eager to distinguish political correctness from, say, civility, try to put the term on a firmer footing. You can see an example of this from @CathyYoung63 here.

observer.com/2016/09/anti-p…
You can judge for yourself how successful Cathy is, but at least she's grappling with the issue. More problematic from my perspective are the answers that @clairlemon gave during a recent interview with @tylercowen. See for yourself.

medium.com/conversations-…
Not only is she evasive about the civility/PC distinction, but she seems herself to be unclear what constitutes PC. Near the top, she says that political correctness is "a restraint on inquiry". OK, maybe. But then immediately afterward, she says this:
What does any of this have to do with restraining inquiry? Seems instead to be an issue of representation, which surely is why Tyler chose it for his challenge. In the space of ten sentences and with seemingly zero hesitation, Claire shifts the entire definition of her key term.
I'm not trying to pick on Claire (ok, maybe a little), but rather point out what even the most enthusiastic purveyors of the term should be willing to admit: "political correctness" has no fixed meaning, and is therefore vulnerable to misuse, abuse, and bad faith.
It's too much to ask that they stop using the term, but if they're honest, they should at least be sure to caveat the hell out of it.
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I’d reframe this. One rarely asked, but quite legitimate, question is this: What do we owe to our allies? If structurally oppressed people are going to say that their allies have an obligation to defer to them (politically, epistemically, etc.), what is owed to them in return?
It’s a big thing, asking someone to entrust their energy and political judgment to you! I think Jade Schaff (Oberlin) wrote something about this, but can’t find it now. Anyway, it’s a legitimate issue that will not/should not go away.
To be clear: I don’t mean “what is owed” in the “what do we get in return?” sense. Rather, what obligation of care, of consideration, of caution does such a relationship create for the allied-with party?
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This doesn't mention me directly, but it's obviously directed at me. And since it reflects the objections that many people had to my thread, it merits a response.
Objection #1: What about Trump/Orban/Brexit/Bolsonaro?

What about them? Yascha knows better than anyone that the illiberal/authoritarian turn in consolidated democracies long precedes contemporary SJW activism. See Brownlee 2002, Wright 2008, Levitsky and Murillo 2013.
As for populism in Europe and the United States, that too predates any kind of social justice activism. In fact, its rise is probably due much more to neoliberal failures (e.g. austerity) than left-liberal ones.

books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr…
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The SJWs Are Winning and You're All Just Going to Have to Deal With It: A thread.
Reading this @JohnHMcWhorter piece is an exercise in vertigo. The central claim is that "third wave anti-racism" (i.e. the broad nexus of PC, social justice, and ID politics) is doomed to failure. That the aims are good, but strategically it's a dead end.

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
This is a common view among centrist liberals and libertarians: "Yes, racism and sexism are serious problems and must be addressed, but the SJW Left is going about it all wrong. In fact, its tactics are actually making these problems worse, not better."
Read 23 tweets

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I thought it would be fun to share my own #MICAH13 presentation with you all via Twitter – @PhDniX's excellent Twitter recaps of his talks were a major factor behind me getting on here too. This was a 20-minute talk, so: LONG thread.
This talk is about #Biblical #Aramaic, attested in the books of #Ezra and #Daniel. Scholars have long debated the linguistic background of these texts, nearly always focusing on the consonantal text. But in the case of Biblical Aramaic, that only tells you half the story.
In the Masoretic Text, differences between the consonantal text and the reading tradition are indicated by so-called qere notes. Here, 'what is written' (Aramaic: ketiv) does not match 'what is read' (Aramaic: qere). The different qere forms thus reflect the reading tradition.
Read 26 tweets
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salon.com/2018/10/29/goo… Trump talks out of both sides of his mouth, calling for “unity” one minute and spewing hate the next. But his followers know only to listen to the ugly, deceitful, bigoted rhetoric and to ignore the rest.
The concept of "political correctness" works as a filter, allowing Trump supporters to dismiss anything conciliatory he said as foisted on him and to only accept his bigotry and rancor as his true feelings. And they're not wrong!
After Trump says something opposing violence or bigotry, the White House always makes sure to use anon leakers to plant a story making it clear he didn't mean it, and that someone else made him say it. This reassures his supporters that he hasn't abandoned authoritarianism.
Read 3 tweets
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So a lot of the rightwing has been crowing lately over a survey that revealed that, basically, effectively nobody wants political correctness.

They think this vindicates them when it actually undermines their position terribly.
See, it's true, and I've been saying it for years: nobody, and I mean nobody, wants political correctness. The people who said yes on that survey are almost if not entirely people who mentally translated what the survey was asking to try to make it something meaningful.
The right rails against "political correctness" for the same reason they rail against "virtue signaling". They can't conceive of the idea that anyone ACTUALLY cares about stuff that doesn't affect them personally, and they won't be bothered to understand others' actual concerns.
Read 30 tweets
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Wonder if this tweet could be used as evidence.
Day 8 of the 10-day bench trial over @NCAA's athlete pay restrictions is about to start. Here's my coverage from yesterday in which @OSU_AD warned of sports dept cuts, while the plaintiffs highlighted the multi-million $ salaries of @OhioState coaches. bit.ly/2Dks5PC
We're back. @NCAA VP Kevin Lennon, who oversees Division I governance, is on the stand taking questions from the student athletes' attorney, Jeffrey L. Kessler of Winston & Strawn LLP.
Read 169 tweets
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Political correctness is a major malaise afflicting discourse in our times.

Wiki defines it in a rather restrictive way-

"the language, policies, or measures intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society"

But I feel this is not accurate
A broader definition of "Political correctness" would be -

"Any surreptitious attempt to modify the style of public discourse so as to render politically inconvenient talking points unacceptable on one's own political side"
The reason I feel the second definition is broader and more capacious is because it covers all forms of political correctness and not just the SJW type.
Read 15 tweets
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Seems pretty clear that civil rights for all minority groups in the US will be drastically lowered during the next decade. What should academia’s response be to this? Can we even honestly ask minority students to come here and study anymore?
Most students will want to work and live here after studying here. That is increasingly becoming difficult. Perhaps Canada or Europe are the more rational choices?
What does this mean for minority professors and professors who want to build diverse groups?
Read 4 tweets

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