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…
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…
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-…
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.
