{"id":725,"date":"2008-02-19T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-19T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/?p=725"},"modified":"2008-02-19T08:50:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-19T08:50:00","slug":"mediawatch-joe-bennett-has-been-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/?p=725","title":{"rendered":"[mediawatch] Joe Bennett Has Been Sold"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been waiting for this to come online: Joe Bennett’s DomPost column on Political Correctness<\/a> from Jan 31. It is a shining example of the type of curmudgeonly foolishness that is so frequently celebrated in newspapers<\/a>.
\nIn the column, Bennett sets out to provide an overview of Political Correctness, and to demonstrate why it should be opposed. He sets about this task with enthusiasm, but of course falls into the amateur trap: he doesn’t question his premises. Bennett’s Political Correctness is the fictional product of 1980s U.S. right-wing spin. He accepts it without realising that he’s been sold.
\nJoe Bennett, you have been sold. What you rail against doesn’t exist. It is a straw man designed expressly to give you something to rail against. Your column is unwitting propaganda, bought and paid for over twenty years ago.
\nHere’s Joe’s history of the term:
\nthe term “political correctness” was coined to scoff at [a set of naive Leftish attitudes]… The word “correctness” implies that certain opinions are right by definition… Such a posture is called totalitarianism. It has killed millions of people… And that is exactly the danger that the phrase “political correctness” was invented to warn against and to deride.
\nBut that warning and that derision have dissolved. People now use the term as though it meant what it said, as though there were indeed a right way of thinking and speaking. There isn’t.<\/strong>
\nThe first paragraph, at least, bears some funhouse-mirror resemblance to the truth. References on wikipedia<\/a> suggest that the term was used within the social movements of the 60s and 70s, as a way of mocking those who became too concerned with doctrine.
\nThe second part is outright nonsense. There are no people who use the term ‘as though it meant what it said’. (There are some serious usages on the left, but not many, and not in the sense that Bennett gets at here.) This is a fantasy existing in Joe Bennett’s mind but not in reality.
\n“Political correctness” is a term used by cultural conservatives who are upset by challenges to their cultural dominance. It is used to discredit these challenges by imagining them to be part of a widespread conspiracy of social engineering. As an imaginary conspiracy it is, by nature, incoherent – witness the confusion over whether the new “violent” All Black haka was an example of political correctness gone mad (they only get away with it because its something Maori!) or was a victim of political correctness gone mad (they won’t let us have it because it’s too violent for their delicate sensibilities!).
\nBennett’s whole column is confused and full of ridiculous claims, but this is perhaps the most ridiculous section:
\nThe politically correct argue that language is tilted in favour of people in power, which means old white men… With its concern for the downtrodden, the outsider, the perceived victim, political correctness tilts the balance the other way. To take one inflammatory example, it is now unthinkable to call black people niggers. But it remains fine to call English people Poms. There may be a difference of degree there, but there is no difference in principle… the correct can’t have it both ways.<\/strong>
\nThat’s right: political correctness tilts language in favour of those who are not old white men, because old white men can’t call black people “niggers”, but black people can call old white men “poms”.
\nThis “inflammatory” example is Bennett’s big zinger, the one that is meant to stun us into sensibility. But it’s ridiculous. Bennett talks about power relations but it’s obvious he has no understanding of how they work. (Besides which, what’s he saying, that everyone should be free to call people niggers if they want?)
\nBennett’s column isn’t really an argument – it’s just a muddle of thoughts roughly stranded together. It is far from the commanding summary I suspect he wishes it to be. It concludes with Bennett coming out firmly against political correctness, for the way it stifles free speech, and for the way it doesn’t have a sense of humour. That’s one mighty big straw man you’ve got there Mr Bennett. Go easy, you might hurt yourself when you punch it.
\nThe bigger issue, of course, is why this kind of nonsense is given such privilege in our newspapers. These sorts of messages are given reverent space right next to the newspaper’s own editorial and the cartoon. Apart from designated-leftie Chris Trotter, is there a single columnist in the DomPost or the Herald who would do anything but nod in approval at Bennett’s blathering?
\nI don’t mind the curmudgeons. They have their place, deluded old fools that they are. What I mind is the diet of all-curmudgeon, all the time. We deserve better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been waiting for this to come online: Joe Bennett’s DomPost column on Political Correctness from Jan 31. It is a shining example of the type of curmudgeonly foolishness that is so frequently celebrated in newspapers. In the column, Bennett sets out to provide an overview of Political Correctness, and to demonstrate why it should … Continue reading [mediawatch] Joe Bennett Has Been Sold<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mediawatch"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8D9ZE-bH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgue.isprettyawesome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}