Probing the paradox of political correctness

The inherent difficulty of any discussion of political correctness was abundantly clear at a Feb. 2 lecture titled "Who Me, P.C.? Why Nobody's P.C." delivered by Richard Bernstein, national cultural correspondent for The New York Times and author of the recent book, The Tyranny of Virtue: Multiculturalism and the Battle for America's Future.

The evening's discussion revealed a troubling paradox that seems to plague any discussion of political correctness. On the one hand, most of those who oppose political correctness feel they cannot express their views without being cast as villains who would deny an equal voice to those whose ancestors were silenced and oppressed; while the majority of those who support the politically correct movement feel they are constantly forced to defend their good intentions and deny that they are ultra-liberal ideologues out to turn society upside down.

"Nobody claims to be politically correct; there are no PC lapel pins," said Bernstein, whose appearance was sponsored by the Association of Scholars in Georgia, part of the National Association of Scholars. "The problem with media coverage of the politically correct movement is that it associates political correctness exclusively with the really ridiculous things that only the most cuckoo in our society would subscribe to. That makes the world safe for more normative political correctness to present itself as mere good sense and openness to others."

Bernstein cited as one of those "cuckoo" examples the case of a professor at a Chicago seminary who was charged with sexual harassment by one of his female students. The professor, Graydon Snyder, was lecturing on the Sermon on the Mount, which led to a discussion of the differences between Jewish and Christian concepts of sin. Snyder cited an example from the Jewish Talmud in which a man who is repairing the roof of a house becomes too hot and removes his clothing. At the same time, the same heatwave prompts the woman inside the house, who is not his wife, to remove her clothing and lie down in an attempt to keep cool. Suddenly, the roof collapses and the man falls into the woman's bed, resulting in the two having involuntary sexual intercourse. According to Jewish law, the two married people did not commit adultery because neither intended to have sex with the other. He said the example illustrates that in the Christian tradition, thinking about sinning without actually doing it is not a sin, while in the Jewish tradition, committing a sinful act without intending to is not a sin.

After class, the female student complained to Snyder that she felt his use of the story constituted sexual harassment against women and she filed a grievance with the University. After the student prevailed in the grievance process, Snyder sued for libel and defamation of character. The case is still pending.

Such a situation, Bernstein said, could only arise in an environment steeped in a politically correct, "wrong-headed" ideology, which serves only to trivialize the genuine harassment women have faced and continue to face.

Multiculturalism's original ideals of mutual understanding and tolerance, Bernstein said, have degenerated into intolerance and the proliferation of group interests. He said the "cult of victimization," a key element of the politically correct movement, encourages people to view themselves as members of oppressed and aggrieved groups, rather than as self-empowered individuals who have the power to improve their own lives.

Several audience members disagreed with Bernstein's assessment and worried that his focus on the degree to which oppression and discrimination exist today is merely an attempt to disregard the historical significance of the oppression suffered by groups such as blacks and women.

"These are real issues that we're talking about here," said a professor from Morehouse College, a historically black men's college in Atlanta. "It's easy to his clothing. At the samesay, when you're a heterosexual white male, that everything is hunky-dory and we don't have to worry about oppression and discrimination anymore. But if you look at it from another perspective, you might realize that it's not true."

Bernstein said that while he recognizes that oppression and discrimination continue to be difficult problems, significant progress has been made over the past 30 years and that progress should be acknowledged. He also said that members of oppressed groups are not well served by the ideology of multiculturalism, which "encourages people to think of themselves as victims, not as self-fashioning individuals."

--Dan Treadaway