The Truth About Political Correctness

The name on everybody's lips is gonna be...

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I take it you are refuting the premise of my link with yours?

Eve Ensler did write a monologue for transwomen, though, didn't she?

Anyhow, back to the op's link.

First things first: 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.

Chait identifies a long list of disputes that he describes as examples of "p.c." demands that are hurting mainstream liberalism. But calling these concerns "political correctness" is another way of saying that they aren't important enough to be addressed on their merits. And all that really means is that they're not important to Jonathan Chait.

An example from outside of Chait's article makes it easy to see how that technique works in practice. I, personally, think that the name of the Washington Redskins is racist and hurtful to Native Americans, and should be changed. So if someone asks me what I think of the debate about the team, that's what I say. By contrast, Virginia legislator Del Jackson Miller likes the name and wants the team to keep it. But rather than making an argument on the merits of the name, he referred to the entire debate as "political correctness on overdrive." In other words, he's saying, this is a false debate — just another example of "political correctness" — so I don't have to even acknowledge concerns about racism. (Miller, in fact, claimed that it was literally fake, an issue trumped up by a "rich member of the Oneida tribe.")

That's a failure of communication and, arguably, of basic respect. Miller isn't engaging with critics of the Redskins name by considering why they find it hurtful, and offering his basis for disagreement — he's dismissing the whole conversation as unworthy of discussion.

Gotcha.

That's a terrific article- nothing is more irritating to me than seeing cries of "political correctness", and that I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at that whiny Chait article.

I will agree that the Vagina Monologues thing is odd, especially as Ensler has written a monologue (several, I think) for transwomen. But the point of this article is still incredibly valid- there's nothing more dismissive that an accusation of political correctness.

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Eve Ensler did write a monologue for transwomen, though, didn't she?

There's a documentary about it.
Beautiful Daughters

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