The following is copied from my response to a friend’s blog about the topic of political correctness. I decided to re-post my comment on my own blog, although I recognize that my treatment here is rather superficial. Maybe best I can say for it is that it can get conversation going:
As you mention, confusion and conflict can arise between what people what to hear (a subjective, but important, aspect of PC) and what is true or at least truly controversial (whether you want to hear it or not, it is what you need to hear). PC can apply either to particular words or to particular issues.
One PC issue is the need academically and professionally to identify and discuss the issues raised by a number of professional measures that have found the average intelligence score for Asian Americans to be higher than the oveall American average, and the average intelligence score for African Americans to be lower than the American average. Environmental factors that have been considered demonstrate a significant effect, but with the best controls that have been done to date, smaller but still statistically meaningful differences remain. Researchers have considered test anxiety and peer pressure as factors, but the topic of so-called “intelligence differences” has not been settled among serious researchers in the field. I have found that it is no longer feasible for me to raise/discuss this issue in class. But doesn’t that leave the topic open only for those who are on the far right of the political spectrum? (I will skip my particular reasons/experiences on this.)
Another PC issue that has been hard to discuss with liberal friends is to explain why I always had some serious concerns about affirmative action (my view was/is that while it offered some short-term benefits, it also presented potential significant problems for the future). I proposed what I considered a better plan, where there would be supportive action for all those in need, starting at the time of pregnancy and progressing through childhood and older if needed, with health and education support for all those who could benefit from it. My commitment could be as great as that of my friends, but they could not bring themselves to think about anything other than short-term reformism, and for me to suggest anything more radical was too “revolutionary” and thus not PC. I would choose to use the word “principled” (not “revolutionary,” which is not a PC word), and folks rarely disagreed with me when I spoke about this as a principle, but then followed with “But….”
I remember that one time, in the context of government response plans in case of a major nuclear incident, there was the suggestion that older workers be selected to be the first sent, if necessary, into potentially dangerous areas, because of less of a lifetime accumulated risk. Folks were all bent out of shape for employing senior citizens for this. A huge uproar. WHAT? If this must be done, would you prefer parents or youngsters instead? Ageism – not PC.
Comment by admin — February 27, 2012 @ 11:14 am