Jonathan Chait: Not A Very PC Thing To Say
This is right on the money.
Obviously I've been complaining about exactly these points for a couple of years now, and I'm happy almost to the point of tears to see someone like Chait getting it all exactly right in a big forum.
As a (mostly) liberal, I continue to believe that the invasion from the illiberal left will be beaten back, as it was in the '80's and '90's...but the internet is the new factor. It allows loonies of all sorts to congregate and concentrate...and the neo-PCs/SJWs are nothing if not loony.
Anyway, read the thing.
Read it, read it, read it.
Obviously I've been complaining about exactly these points for a couple of years now, and I'm happy almost to the point of tears to see someone like Chait getting it all exactly right in a big forum.
As a (mostly) liberal, I continue to believe that the invasion from the illiberal left will be beaten back, as it was in the '80's and '90's...but the internet is the new factor. It allows loonies of all sorts to congregate and concentrate...and the neo-PCs/SJWs are nothing if not loony.
Anyway, read the thing.
Read it, read it, read it.
posted by Winston Smith at
1:54 PM
7 Comments:
I was too young during the PC thing to know much about it, but it seems to me to be the same damn story repeated a million times throughout history; stupid people latch onto stupid ideas which gain and diminish in power relative to their novelty. New stupid ideas require some time before the average person becomes sufficiently aware of them to immediately dismiss them with sufficient firmness, and so goes the ebb and flow of morons.
People LOVE to be victims. They revel in it and adore the coercive power it wields over others. They want to be treated like royalty and one way to accomplish that is to compel others to walk on eggshells, fearful of being characterized as calloused, ignorant fools whose unknowing misdeeds are so horrific that they actually traumatize others.
It is the ultimate fool's tool to convince others that they, in fact, are the fools. Idiotic theories and poor reasoning spin webs of nonsense perfect for the job.
Lame. I'm kinda tired of people, lately, and this isn't helping.
You know, it further comes to mind that this is a particularly insidious and cultish kind of control; the only way it works is if people actually give a crap about traumatizing others, just like the only way the cult thing works is if you actually give a crap about being a part of the cult.
The PC thing basically leverages common human decency against people, using the desire not to cause undue stress in others against the freedom of the individual.
AND ANOTHER THING
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/28/chait-to-pc-police-your-outrage-is-like-sexy-hot-wax-to-me.html
I love that the people about whom the article is written - the people who fetishize and lavish themselves in victimhood - are immediately responding to Chait's piece by accusing him of falsely portraying himself as a victim.
These people can't see the world in any way other than their own victimhood. When they encounter a critique of this worldview, they react by falsely coming to the conclusion that the critic is attempting to take their victimhood away by focusing on his own.
VICTIM VICTIM VICTIM.
VICTIM
Some people need to be slapped in the face if not only to fulfill their need to be victims.
"The list of ideas and articles Chait thinks should disappear is dizzying. “A year ago, for instance, a photographer compiled images of Fordham students displaying signs recounting ‘an instance of racial microaggression they have faced,’” he writes contemptuously. “BuzzFeed published part of her project, and it has since received more than 2 million views. This is not an anomaly.” Chait doesn’t explain why we should be offended that Buzzfeed gave voice to people explaining their experiences. Perhaps Buzzfeed should put a trigger warning on the next article they run about subtle racism, so that easily offended people like Chait know to steer clear. "
Are you serious, Marcotte?
It's like she's trying to make a joke which ends up betraying her boxed-in worldview. She can't help but interpret Chait's critique of the culture of taking offense in terms of taking offense.
It is amazing.
I think that point in your second comment is really, really good and important.
Ditto the third one--and Chait himself points this out in the "Anti-Anti-PC" piece I just posted.
When you're only tool is a hammer...
It's almost like they've forgotten how to evaluate actual reasoning, and now only know how to play victim poker, so they think that's what everyone else must be doing, too.
Well, Winston, I'm going to have to write you off from now on.
That you fell for Chait's screed and his fear that Leftist PC will take root across the country like kudzu has in the American South demonstrates how out of touch he is with the realities of today.
Have a good life.
See ya, dude.
If I'm ever trucked off to SJW re-education camp, I hope you'll put in a good word for me with your pals...
But seriously: thanks for all the valued input over the years, and for playing the loyal opposition, and sincere best wishes for a good life of your own.
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