[Rafe Opsimath]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Does everyone actually realize that "PC" is a strawman, though? I see the term bandied about so casually, and more than once people have reacted with wide-eyed shock when I questioned their use of it.

And what was their answer?

In my first post I argued that there are leftists with legitimate concerns about problematizing discourse in a free society, regardless of the intended aims of the process. This isn't limited to hate speech legislation, but also the belief that words themselves have some sort of power to transform society for better or worse. The line cuts both ways: if moralists aren't allowed to assert that speech can cause corruption or degeneracy, then neither can they assert that speech alone can enslave or oppress.

But even accepting that many proponents of speech control do argue in much the same manner you've described, I think "PC" casts a far wider net than that, to the point where people proudly use racist terms and decorate themselves with the Un-PC Iron Cross.

Like I said, I don't believe that terms themselves are racist, or that their use should be subject to an approbatory process by me or anyone else. It seems futile to try to gauge the intent in each and every case where an offensive term is used, or to assume every use of the term is intended to denigrate and oppress.

We need to keep in mind the aim of the struggle: to end the systematic exclusion of certain groups from the decision-making processes in society. Racism and sexism won't go away just because better terms are sanctioned for their victims.

I just don't see that the chimera of Political Correctness as utilised over the past 10 years has much to do with a genuine beef about the siege mentality of advocates for the disenfranchised.

And thus you prove my point: even after I've made my argument, you assert that any concerns about "PC" must be motivated by right-wing paranoia. The debate has been allowed to become polarized because this benefits both extremes. Right-wingers can concoct an elaborate fantasy where the people their system disempowers are somehow controlling all public discourse, but we shouldn't console ourselves with similar delusions of persecution.