Yes, Political Correctness Really Exists

The American Conservative ^ | January 30, 2015 | Samuel Goldman

[QT3.14]

Jonathan Chait burned up the Internet this week with his critique of so-called political correctness. Among many responses, Amanda Taub‘s stands out for its denial of Chait’s basic premise. According to Taub:

…there’s no such thing as “political correctness.” The term’s in wide use, certainly, but has no actual fixed or specific meaning. What defines it is not what it describes but how it’s used: as a way to dismiss a concern or demand as a frivolous grievance rather than a real issue.

This is a curious response. Sure, people use the term in different ways. But Chait provides a perfectly serviceable definition: “political correctness is a style of politics in which the more radical members of the left attempt to regulate political discourse by defining opposing views as bigoted and illegitimate.”

[QT3.14]

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion
that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and
therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being
told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all
their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself.
One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I
think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”

-- Theodore Dalrymple

Political Correctness is intellectual AIDS. Everything it touches it sickens and eventually kills.

-- William S. Lind, Free Congress Foundation

[Pelham]

bump

[Talisker]

According to Amanda Taub: "…there’s no such thing as 'political correctness.' The term’s in wide use, certainly, but has no actual fixed or specific meaning. What defines it is not what it describes but how it’s used: as a way to dismiss a concern or demand as a frivolous grievance rather than a real issue."

[sauropod]

Bump

[Gene Eric]

The West fears Political Correctness more so than Islam. It’s a serious problem.

[cva66snipe]

Bill Lind wrote a great essay on The Origins Of Political Correctness. It’s Cultural Marxism. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2031059/posts

[sphinx]

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.”

-- Theodore Dalrymple

This nails it. I am an appreciative reader of Theodore Dayrumple's work, but I have not seen this before. Source?

[arthurus]

Interesting and educational long piece that could benefit by proofreading to restore all the dropped words to the text before publication. It reads like some sort of intellectual texting.

[sergeantdave]

Here’s an interview with Dayrumple where he talks about PC.

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=7445

[QT3.14]

One of many:

Here