Photo c/o  The Nib

Writer and Journalist Jonathan Chait thinks the police are out of control… the language police that is.

He sets out to police the word cops in a recent article “how the language police are perverting liberalism”.

Chait claims Political correctness has run amok. He pours scorn on many citing examples like the hashtag “solidarity is for white women“, the term “mansplaining”, the increased usage of trigger warnings,  or the heightened discussions on microagressions. Chait thinks that the pressure to be PC oppresses the oppressed and castrates the discourse both within and between groups.

But political correctness is not a rigorous commitment to social equality so much as a system of left-wing ideological repression. Not only is it not a form of liberalism; it is antithetical to liberalism. Indeed, its most frequent victims turn out to be liberals themselves

Liberal victims?  

Chait serves as an example one of the most visible groups on the internet: Feminists…and some of them agree with him.

#FemFuture was organized to celebrate the mobilizing power of online feminism. It sought to write an inclusive report on what the movement had accomplished and discuss future approaches. Unfortunately,  other erstwhile allies had PC objections with the report and a backlash (elaborated on and commentated on here) soon resulted. 

But was this really political correctness gone wrong? Or just a healthy debate? 

Some think Chaits assertions have created as an opportunity to reiterate and clarify what being PC truly means -and what it means when people dismiss it as censorship or over-sensitivity. 

But not everyone is enthralled with Chait’s take on the PC problem.

Brittany Cooper of Salon remarks that his attempts to side with and “rescue” white and martyred feminists comes across, at best patronizing, and at worst chauvinistic and racist.  And what have the supposed victims of PC Speech have to say about Chait?   Samhita Mukhopadhyay wrote her own response article, 

…But the current political climate has made it such that when one airs racist, sexist or homophobic views, there are consequences. Rights don’t exempt us from consequences. Those consequences should, of course, never be deadly, but if one becomes the object of social ridicule for being racist or sexist, so be it.

 So, we come back to our original question: Does political correctness stifle creativity? Science actually says no. In fact, it helps by creating a more inclusive and conducive atmosphere.