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Everything We Think about the Political Correctness Debate is Wrong

posted by mrpg on Sunday March 25 2018, @08:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the true-or-false dept.

aristarchus writes:

From the Vox:

Many American pundits seem to firmly believe that the country stands at a precipice in which young, left-wing college students and recent graduates are the leading edge of a rising tide of illiberalism that comes in the form of “political correctness” and poses a clear and present danger to free speech and rational discourse.

[...] The alarm about student protesters, in other words, though not always mistaken about particular cases, is generally grounded in a completely mistaken view of the big-picture state of American society and public opinion, both on and off campus.

[...] Since the 1970s, the General Social Survey has posed a question about whether five hypothetical speakers should be allowed to give a speech in your community — a communist, a homosexual, an opponent of all religion, a racist, and a person who favors replacing the elected government with a military coup.

Justin Murphy of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom aggregated trend data about all five kinds of speakers and found that public support for free expression has been generally rising

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @02:15AM (9 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 26 2018, @02:15AM (#658184) Journal

    There has never been a powerful left wing in the US, and there has barely ever been a left wing at all. The Overton Window is so far to the right now that if Reagan were running on his original platform even the Dems wouldn't want him. Or are you too young to remember presidents of the late 60s through late 70s and early 80s calling for universal healthcare? There is video of Nixon saying that, IIRC.

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday March 26 2018, @12:18PM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Monday March 26 2018, @12:18PM (#658381) Homepage
    You're forgetting of course the "Social and Industrial Justice" (yes, that is the same "Social Justice" that is almost a triggering term nowadays to some) part of Roosevelt's Republican 1912 campaign: "We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in State and Nation for [...] the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use."
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    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:16PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 26 2018, @07:16PM (#658596) Journal

      That sounds solidly centrist to me, and also like excellent domestic statecraft :)

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...

  • (Score: 2) by mobydisk on Monday March 26 2018, @05:12PM (6 children)

    by mobydisk (5472) on Monday March 26 2018, @05:12PM (#658529)

    What Nixon meant by "universal heathcare" was completely different from what people think of today. Nixon meant that employers should offer healthcare coverage and employees should pay a portion of it. Today "universal heathcare" means the government pays 100% of it.

    • (Score: 3, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:15PM (5 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 26 2018, @07:15PM (#658595) Journal

      No, you illiterate moron, universal healthcare means the government is the single *insurer.* *We* would pay for it, via taxes.

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      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...

      • (Score: 1, Redundant) by mobydisk on Monday March 26 2018, @07:34PM (2 children)

        by mobydisk (5472) on Monday March 26 2018, @07:34PM (#658608)

        I'm unsure how a post starting with "No, you illiterate moron" as the first sentence got modded up. But either way, you confirmed my point, which is that the definition of universal healthcare has changed since the Nixon era.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @07:53PM (1 child)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 26 2018, @07:53PM (#658620) Journal

          Whatever he meant by it, he still called for it. Can you imagine the utter shrieking rightwing shitstorm there would be if a modern President suggested that?

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          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by toddestan on Tuesday March 27 2018, @02:35AM

            by toddestan (4982) on Tuesday March 27 2018, @02:35AM (#658760)

            A lot depends on who says it. Remember that Obamacare in many ways is just a nation-wide implementation of Romneycare. Which is one of those facts that doesn't fit into the Republican narrative so it tends to get ignored.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:17PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 26 2018, @08:17PM (#658630)

        Your immature insults immediate discredit anything you might have said after. Someone disagreed with you. That is the beginning and end of it. You don't need to insult people to convey any points you have. Stating your rebuttal is plenty.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday March 26 2018, @09:03PM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday March 26 2018, @09:03PM (#658661) Journal

          Tone trolling has replaced patriotism as the last refuge of the scoundrel. Ponder that a moment; tone does not make the content any more or less true.

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          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...