The extremes of political correctness
Political correctness can be used as a tool to cure social ills, as well as educate or sensitize public opinion. That said, political correctness has occasionally been taken to a – sometimes ridiculous – extreme. American universities are a case in point (and they are often mimicked by their Western European counterparts). Staff and students at US universities increasingly feel that they are made to suffocate under the influence of political correctness.
We are not talking about supporters of former president Donald Trump or fans of the late Ronald Reagan but about people who would in Greece and most of Europe be classified as center-left or left-wing. No one can express themselves freely or they could become the target of vitriolic attacks should they exceed, even slightly, the confines of the politically acceptable. A professor was allegedly fired for reading a racial slur in a Mark Twain book that offended one of her students. Stanford University, one of the world’s leading educational institutions, published an index of “harmful language” that it wants to eliminate. The Americans used to say it is useless to flog a dead horse. Well, no more, as the metaphor is now seen as condoning animal abuse. The list of what is allowed and what is not is endless. So is the list of restroom signs, for the sake of inclusiveness.
This kind of fanaticism originally alienated parts of the American population who were on the right of the political spectrum, or who were considered marginal or backward. It has gradually however also come to alienate those who simply want to think with an open mind, to express themselves freely and not put up with the constant attention of the PC police. Amazingly, you will often see reasonable, moderate academics and students fuming about the phenomenon, always behind closed doors.
I recently asked a professor friend of mine at a major American university how long he thinks that this trend will continue before the pendulum swings back to somewhere in the middle. The professor, who leans to the center-left, had himself suffered an extremely unpleasant experience which put him at the center of a minor attack for no real reason but dealt with the fallout stoically. He replied that it will take at least one more generation until some kind of balance is struck. This, however, will come at a great cost, and most importantly, with many political side effects because – as is well known – action always brings a reaction when it swings toward extreme and irrational levels.
