Political Correctness From Left to Right: Two Sides of the Same Coin

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that Republicans derided liberals as “snowflakes” because they were so easily offended, if not outright traumatized, by a seemingly endless stream of words and ideas, if those words and ideas differed from their sensibilities or political world view. Conservative speakers were banned from college campuses and warnings required before “trigger words” were uttered, lest tender ears were unexpectedly assaulted.

According to many ultra-liberals, numerous common words and everyday expressions of speech should be avoided altogether. (I am still shaking my head after learning that a high school history teacher was told by an administrator not to use the words dead and died when teaching history because of the possible emotional impact of such words on students. The teacher should instead use the word “unliving.”) While I refused to invoke the insulting moniker “snowflake” because I don’t think disparaging name-calling is constructive (see Love Your Enemies by Arthur C. Brooks), I largely agreed that the left’s hyper-sensitivity  served to shut down debate and diminished our collective critical thinking skills. Of course, some words are so universally offensive they should not be voiced, but the left seemed willing to expand that category to envelope anything with which they disagreed.

 I was a philosophy major. I am not afraid of confronting ideas and concepts with which I initially disagree and analyze the merits of the proposition being advanced. I am convinced that the unfettered exchange of ideas represents a cornerstone of western civilization and contributes greatly to societal advancement. Our ability to discuss topics and concepts out of our comfort zone expands our understanding of the world and sharpens a person’s critical thinking skills. I therefore opposed what I perceived to be unbridled political correctness. I thought generally that the conservative movement understood this and that it favored the free exchange of ideas.

But alas, I was wrong, at least when it comes to many who today call themselves conservative. (In a subsequent post, I intend to explore why the term “conservative” is now untethered from its historical definition.) Apparently for many of today’s purported conservatives, political correctness involves liberal objectives, but anything that offends today’s conservatives constitutes “wokeness” and should be banned. Heaven help us if people have to confront some of our nation’s darker chapters. For these so-called conservatives, we should instead deny history, and pretend, among other things, that discrimination never existed much less suggest that vestiges of it remain. According to them, we must avoid the trauma to high school students that would ensue if they were to hear how ubiquitous racism and antisemitism were during periods of our country’s past. As a result, scores of books in red states are being removed from library shelves because they refer to our sometimes less than stellar past or dare to address the challenges associated with a heterogeneous society. I have sadly concluded that hyper-sensitivity is not just a liberal problem. In today’s climate,  hyper-sensitivity spans the political spectrum. It’s just a matter of whose ox is being gored. (I have no doubt offended someone with that imagery.)

I decided to write about my disappointing revelation after recently reading that in Florida, an award-winning book about the life of Roberto Clemente was pulled from library shelves because it referenced the discrimination Clemente faced. Really? We are shielding kids from learning about a great humanitarian because a book mentions that he had to overcome discrimination? Am I alone in thinking that hyper-sensitivity is running amok on both sides, and we should resolutely resist becoming a societal echo chamber where we only want to hear what confirms our opinions?

Unlike many countries, America is a land of immigrants, and as a result, we are an exceptionally diverse lot. Of course, because humans by their nature are tribal, our diversity has presented a plethora of challenges, but we are stronger for our diversity. Moreover, one of the things that makes our country so great has been our historical embrace of free speech, which allows us to learn from our mistakes. By addressing our past, both the good and the bad, we become better and a more perfect union. We aren’t like Turkey where it can be considered a crime of insulting Turkishness to publicly acknowledge the Armenian genocide. We can discuss with students contextually our complete past – both the noble and ignoble – while also teaching how far we have come as well as the concept of unconscious, implicit bias, which spans all races and cultures. (As Carl Jung observed,” Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”) When implicit bias occurs, no group is morally superior to the other. Rather, it represents an issue of universal human nature.  Knowledge that we are a tribal species in turn allows us to embrace and expand the diversity of our tribe because it is no longer limited by race or origin, but defined by the ideas embodied in the Declaration of Independence. As a nation, we should embrace certain core precepts, one of which is our belief in the free exchange of ideas, and we should consider political correctness an anathema to that ideal.

In short, the left and right need to stop being so sensitive and be prepared to seriously and thoughtfully engage in political and cultural discourse without resort to name-calling and insults. We need  to resist confirmation bias and expose ourselves to opinions with which we disagree. To me, that’s a hallmark of being an adult who takes his/her civic responsibility seriously. (When I was growing up, we would routinely discuss political and cultural issues of the day at the dinner table. But my father had an inviolate rule at that dinner table. You were free to express your opinion and disagree with him, sometimes vehemently, but you had to explain why and be prepared to defend your position.)

 To my friends on the left and the right I say this. Personal responsibility is not a noxious concept, not everything is society’s fault, yet discrimination with its corrosive effects did and does exist, which has diminished over time precisely because we as a society have had the courage to confront it. Let’s remember what makes America the greatest county on Earth and a beacon of hope across the world. Enough with all this political correctness on both sides of the political divide. Let us also remember the words of Thomas Paine: “He who dares not offend cannot be honest.”