As I discussed in a post last week, political correctness is about rigidity of thinking. The idea is to censor people’s thinking along fairly rigid and specific lines. By not allowing thinking that is outside the box, the hope is to control the ways people see what is around them. In other words this is a method to alter people’s perception of reality.
If a person dares to speak/think outside accepted norms, the left will label him/her. The form of that label will be will depend on the circumstances that surround the stepping outside the box. The label will present the individual as a deplorable. They may call the person a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, an islamophobe, etc. Whatever it will be, it will be such as to present the person as evil in some way.
In this day and age there is no area of American life with more rigidity of thinking than on our college campuses. The fact is that 1 in 6 of America’s 400 top colleges have “free speech zones.” “Free speech zones”—the name sounds good, right? The sad truth is that free speech zones are far from free. Many college campuses restrict free speech solely to these areas, meaning that the rest of campus is not open for expression. Not only that but many of the so-called free speech zones have unduly restrictive regulations on their use which include pre-registration, limited use and limited areas.
America is the exceptional country that it is because of thinking outside the box. It has been part of our DNA as a country. Today on many campuses the left has been successful at creating a radical, identity-driven grievance culture that does not permit the introduction of ideas that are outside the left’s narrative. This is contrary to the whole idea of America.
University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax is an exception to politically correct thinking that abounds on college campuses. As I am sure she would agree, the truth is the truth. The fact that the truth may favor or disfavor a group does not change the truth. Not permitting speech and debate on such subjects does a disservice to the whole idea of seeking the truth.
As Kelsey Harkness reported,
Professor Wax spoke at a Heritage Foundation seminar in November. She put forward tangible ideas about how to change university life to one that seeks the truth.
First and foremost, Wax said, “Remind students that one of the central missions of the university, which justifies its existence, is to get at the truth.” She also said:
No one likes to find out that they have been wrong about a subject. This can be unsettling. However, without honest debate it can be difficult to move forward. She suggested guidelines for debate:
It is unlikely that these guidelines will be adopted at our more prestigious universities and colleges anytime soon. The left is too entrenched and would undoubtedly feel very threatened if they could no longer shift focus away from their weak arguments by being prevented from resorting to name-calling.
However, there is still hope. The distaste for political correctness appears to be growing. In fact, in a recent survey by National Review, despite the reputation that millennials get for being too sensitive, 79 percent of respondents under the age of 24 actually reported this fact. So did 97 percent of conservatives and a full 61 percent of traditional liberals. Perhaps the lack of political correctness of PDJT is part of the reason. Another reason to be happy PDJT was elected.