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The Benefits of Being Politically Correct By Anna North November 10, 2014 1:20 pm 30 Comments When people bring up political correctness, they’re often talking about how much they hate it. Unlike, say, “diversity” or “inclusion,” the term is perhaps most frequently used by those who object to what it stands for, who feel that calls to change the way they speak harm them or society in some way. These objections inspired Jack Goncalo, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell, and his team to study the actual effects of political correctness. They’d heard “this idea that the effort to...

Time Magazine has declared that men who are able to sit and not cross their legs are a “manifestation of patriarchal privilege.” In an article called, “‘Man Spreaders,’ There’s No Excuse for Not Closing Your Legs on the Subway,” Time’s Etiquette section slammed men who do not sit with their legs together. But more than it being impolite and against etiquette, there is a much bigger problem with men like this: they are proliferating “the patriarchy.” The article explains that men sitting with their legs apart “is the most visual manifestation of patriarchal privilege and that is why it is...

Gay men just got a step closer to being able to donate blood. Since 1983, men who have had sex with men anytime since 1977 were barred from donating blood, a policy put in place because of the HIV/AIDs epidemic, which especially ravaged the gay community in its early years. But on Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety voted 16-2 to tweak the ban, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, suggesting instead that men who have had sex with men could give blood, but with a caveat. They’d have to be abstinent for...

In a corner of Washington National Cathedral, several hundred Muslim worshipers and other invited guests gathered Friday afternoon for a first-ever recitation of weekly Muslim prayers at the iconic Christian church and to hear leaders of both faiths call for religious unity in the face of extremist violence and hate. Nevertheless, the carefully scripted ceremony was marred once when a well-dressed middle-age woman in the audience suddenly rose and began shouting that “America was founded on Christian principles. . . . Leave our church alone!” She was swiftly ushered out by security aides, and the service continued.

Some people are urging the Colorado burrito chain Illegal Pete’s to change its name because of the way the word “illegal” has been used to describe immigrants. The Coloradan reports that about 30 people gathered in Fort Collins Wednesday to ask owner Pete Turner to change the name of the chain, which is about to open an outlet there. It’s part of a bigger campaign nationally against what critics refer to as the “I-word.” They think using the word to describe a person is dehumanizing. …

If a prostitute is a sex worker, is a thief an expropriation worker? And a hitman a dispatch worker? If a homosexual is gay, is a necrophiliac happy? If Before Christ is Before the Common Era and Anno Domini is Common Era, is Jesus Christ a common good? If a person who criticises Islam is suffering from Islamophobia, is a person who criticises him suffering from Islamophobiaphobia? If someone opposed to Third World immigration to the West is a racist, is someone in favour of it a Westist? If believing that a woman should cook is misogynist, is believing...

Two former school district employees, including the one who oversaw its affirmative action policies, filed race discrimination suits in September, saying they were fired because they're not Hispanic. Bernice Marshall, the former human resources manager, and Edmund Treadway, the former transportation manager, argue in Superior Court filings that the Perth Amboy School District is favoring Hispanic job candidates and employees. "No one's paying attention to the kids," said Marshall, who is African-American

The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States has caused some to call on the United States to ban travel for anyone from the countries in West Africa facing the worst of the Ebola epidemic.... We don't want to isolate parts of the world, or people who aren't sick, because that's going to drive patients with Ebola underground, making it infinitely more difficult to address the outbreak... A travel ban is not the right answer. It’s simply not feasible to build a wall – virtual or real – around a community, city, or country. A travel ban would...

Liberals tend to devote a significant portion of their daily lives to proving how not racist they are. One particularly expedient way of doing this is to declare that something a conservative has said or done is totally racist, and then to place oneself in opposition to the thing that was racist: “See, I’m not a racist!”As result, the List of Things That Are Racist has grown incomprehensibly long. The Free Beacon‘s devotion to public service obligates us to provide this list (not exhaustive by any means) of what liberals do and do not consider to be racist.Things That...

The 007 Movie Villains Disconnect with Reality During a recent visit to the Imperial War Museum in London, as I examined the Secret Service exhibits, I could not help but notice the sharp contrast between the villains depicted in James Bond 007 films and the real enemies of the Realm. • KGB Infiltrators Although MI5 and MI6 were riddled with high level KGB infiltrators, Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Harry Houghton, John Cairncross, George Blake, Donald Maclean, Geoffrey Prime, Anthony Blunt and Sir Roger Hollis, no 007 film has really tackled that reality. That M, at the time of the early...

Earlier this month, two fan conventions came to London: Nine Worlds and the World Science Fiction Convention, commonly know as Worldcon. Worldcon is in its 72nd year, a huge old dinosaur (or perhaps an aging dragon) of science-fiction fandom. This year more than 10,000 people paid for memberships, which included entrance to the annual Hugo Awards. The official guests of honor were revered science-fiction and fantasy authors, editors, and illustrators, all of whom were in their 60s and 70s. Nine Worlds was smaller, younger, and catered to a more varied crowd including comics, TV, and fanfic followers. But since both...

The Islamic State and the other advocates of sharia law are growing rapidly, along with their zeal to eradicate or convert all “infidels.” For those who are asleep at the wheel, in the opinion of these fanatics, most of Western civilization — including America — fits into the infidel category. I normally encourage conversation and compromise where possible, but how does one negotiate or compromise with someone who desires your elimination? Maybe if you meet some of their demands, they will only dismember you or kill you more slowly. Obviously, the expansion of groups such as the Islamic State represents...

The New York Times is under fire for its profile of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by police in Ferguson, Missouri, on 9 August. The article, which was published on Sunday, the day before Mr Brown's funeral, paints an intimate portrait of his life. It also reveals some of the personal struggles he faced in the days leading up to his death. "Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life," writes John...

ESPN has a nasty habit of suspending people who they hire to share opinions. Stephen A. Smith was recently suspended for daring to suggest a woman shouldn’t antagonize her violent husband. You would think this is common sense. If a woman knows her man is violent and knows what will trigger him, it’s probably not a good idea to antagonize him. That doesn’t let husband off the hook of course and Smith so much as said so. Max Kellerman admitted on the air he hit his girlfriend years ago (it was in context of the NFL’s Ray Rice suspension, which...

When Ideology Trumps Science: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Cosmos on Global Warming Jay W. Richards August 6, 2014 1:15 PM | Permalink I finally had a chance to watch the twelfth, penultimate episode of Cosmos, "The World Set Free." I was out of the country in June when it originally aired, but since there's no doubt the series is headed into the schools and remains relevant, I'll take this opportunity to comment. The episode stands out from most previous installments. Just when we've grown accustomed to circuitous narrative threads with obscure segues from one topic to the next, we get...

A star high school athlete in rural Marshalltown, Iowa has been suspended for three football games this fall because he posted a social media image of himself enthusiastically festooned from head to toe in white clothing during school spirit week. In the photo, he made the letter “W” with his hands — which in this case stands for white. “The actual school chose the colors that each grade would be wearing,” Cathy Van Staalduine explained. “Juniors wore white. So Blair, of course, being active in the school, dressed from head to toe in white.” She noted emphatically that the “W”...

•Men who have sex with other men have been banned from donating blood by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration since 1977. •According to the CDC, gay and bisexual men accounted for 63 percent of new HIV infections in 2010. Universities across the country are hosting a National Gay Blood Drive today to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to change its current policies which prevent gay men from donating blood. According to the FDA’s website, men who have sex with other men (MSM) have an increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other types of infections that can...

Graham Nash feels optimistic that young people will once again change America for the better. So while he’s frustrated by political ideals surrounding issues like global warming and marriage equality, he realizes that “those powers against progress” will naturally run their course. “They will all die at one point and the children will take over,” Nash said. Then he added: “Do you know anybody under 25 that gives a damn whether you marry a man if you’re a man or if you marry a woman if you’re a woman? No.” …

Earlier this month, the story of a little girl’s experience at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) went viral. According to reports, three-year Victoria Welcher, who had been disfigured in a pit-bull attack, was kicked out of a Mississippi KFC restaurant because her face was making the other diners uncomfortable. Victoria’s family posted a photo of the child on Facebook with the caption, “Does this face look scary to you? Last week at KFC in Jackson MS this precious face was asked to leave because her face scared the other diners. I personally will never step foot in another...

Why the Redskins Trademark Ruling Should Terrify You Article Subtitle: Anyone deemed politically incorrect is now outside the protection of the law. Like most people, I haven’t been all that interested in the controversy over whether the name of the Washington Redskins is offensive. Personally, I’m more offended that Washington, DC, has become the kind of megalopolis that can support an NFL team. If I had my way, it would go back to being a humid, swampy backwater with impassable mud roads. Pierre L’Enfant has much to answer for. But I think everyone should be terrified by the new ruling...