Political Correctness on Campus

Political Correctness on Campus

Polit­i­cal cor­rect­ness is dom­i­nat­ing col­lege cam­pus­es across the country.

[1980s] Emerges from cul­ture wars.
[1990s] Declines dur­ing focus on econ­o­my and health care.
[c.2010] Re-emerges out of social media and Inter­net 2.0.

Old Polit­i­cal Cor­rect­ness:
Reg­u­lat­ed by pro­fes­sors
Restricts hate speech
Fun­da­men­tal­ly inclu­sive
Aims toward consensus

New Polit­i­cal Cor­rect­ness:
Reg­u­lat­ed by stu­dents
Rejects intel­lec­tu­al­ly and emo­tion­al­ly chal­leng­ing speech
Fun­da­men­tal­ly exclu­sive
Vicious­ly cyclical…

A takes offense at B
A broad­casts offense
A gains sup­port­ers
B gains defend­ers
A, B, and Media gain fol­low­ers and $ from expo­sure
A/B polar­iza­tion increases

The new polit­i­cal cor­rect­ness has also enforced a con­fus­ing new vocabulary.

PC Terms:

mansplain­ing
white­s­plain­ing
straight­splain­ing
tone polic­ing
POC
WOC
WWC
Non-bina­ry
free-speech-zone
microag­gres­sion
mag­ni­fi­ca­tion
label­ing
trig­ger warn­ing
called out
safe
threat­ened
ally
evolve
almond sham­ing
cathar­sis
war on women
his and her
Occam’s razor
anthro­pogenic warm­ing
speech codes
mis­guid­ed crim­i­nal
GLBTQ2IA
hir
ze

Un-PC Terms:

snowflakes
peanut but­ter sand­wich
nor­mal
Colum­bus
pet own­er
rule of thumb
hand­i­cap
Christ­mas
prayer
swine flu
Dutch treat
hold­ing down the fort
guys
ugly
psy­cho
jan­i­tor
sec­re­tary
ille­gal alien
bro­ken home
crim­i­nal
fail­ure
fac­to­ry
crazy
for­eign food
glob­al warming

Experts think all this is caus­ing adverse health effects.

Of Col­lege Coun­sel­ing Directors:

95%: Report grow­ing con­cern over stu­dents with sig­nif­i­cant psy­cho­log­i­cal prob­lems.
70%: Report stu­dent pop­u­la­tion with sig­nif­i­cant psy­cho­log­i­cal prob­lems has increased in past year.

Of Col­lege Students:

[show 2009->14 5% increase]
[2009]49%: Report over­whelm­ing anx­i­ety.
[2014]54%: Report over­whelm­ing anxiety.

Cog­ni­tive Dis­tor­tions Com­mon in PC Cam­pus Environments

Mind read­ing: A assumes B thinks neg­a­tive­ly about A.
For­tune-telling: A pre­dicts inevitably bad future.
Cat­a­stro­phiz­ing: A thinks past or future unbear­ably bad.
Label­ing: A assigns glob­al — traits.
Dis­count­ing pos­i­tives: A ignores +.
Neg­a­tive fil­ter­ing: A focus­es on -.
Over­gen­er­al­iz­ing: A projects glob­al trend from 1 inci­dent.
Dichoto­mous think­ing: A cre­ates zero-sum sce­nar­ios.
Blam­ing: A cat­e­gor­i­cal­ly blames B.
What if?: A obsessed by neg­a­tive sce­nar­ios.
Emo­tion­al rea­son­ing: A gov­erned by feel­ings, despite con­tra­dic­to­ry evi­dence.
Inabil­i­ty to dis­con­firm: A denies evi­dence con­tra­dic­to­ry to A’s POV.

Not only is the new PC unhealthy, it’s un-democratic.

Prop­er Democ­ra­cy:
A lis­tens to B.
A debates B.
A and B’s poli­cies vot­ed on.
Vot­ers decide.

New PC Despo­tism:
A denies valid­i­ty of B’s POV.
A rejects grounds of a debate.
A excludes B’s elec­torate.
A decides.

The New PC is:
Close-mind­ed
One-sided
Knee-jerk
Self-per­pet­u­at­ing
Self-con­sum­ing
Unhealthy
Tyran­ni­cal

It’s time to turn back to the open-mind­ed­ness, intel­lec­tu­al curios­i­ty, and free speech that Amer­i­ca and its col­leges were found­ed upon.

Cita­tions:

• http://inthesetimes.com/article/3027/a_politically_correct_lexicon
• http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/not-a-very-pc-thing-to-say.html
• http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/06/college-students.aspx
• http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/