In "The Problem With Political Correctness", BJ Gallagher explains how the recent fad to jump to conclusions on someones opinion is harming the right to free speech. Particularly on college campuses, students have increasingly labeled piers and faculty racist, sexist and/or homophobic due to their opinions or support for historical figures and events. Gallagher explains how obtaining one of these labels can quickly destroy the reputation of someone and simultaneously lead to an expulsion or leave of absence. Due to the threat of being labeled racist or sexist, many have fear to voice their opinions on social justice issues that are becoming increasingly prevalent on college campuses and other institutions throughout America. Gallagher believes that this is hindering the discussions on diversity issues causing further tension between minorities and whites as well as the far right and the far left.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bj-gallagher/the-problem-political-correctness_b_2746663.html
In Charles Mills book The Racial Contract, Mills explains how social contracts are founded on racism and he believes that racism is at the base of institutions.I think Mills has a very compelling theory because if one were to look at the constitutions of most western countries (including the United States), one would find that the authors are predominantly white males who most likely saw minorities as lesser people. However, I do not believe that this should cause for the extermination of studying the texts that these men have created. Many students have been arguing for more diverse course work and more diverse symbols on campus. For example, students at the College of William and Mary are calling for the removal of the statue of Thomas Jefferson, while students at Princeton want the name of Woodrow Wilson to be removed from all buildings. I do not believe that we should be forgetting the history of our country's Founding Fathers because most of them were racist. We cannot forget the extraordinary things that the white males of history have done due to the common ideology of earlier centuries. Should we forget the extraordinary authors and philosophers of the Enlightenment, which has been so essential to the ideology of our country? Should we remove the President who established the idea of nations coming together to form a peaceful and more perfect world with his Fourteen Points? I do not believe that it is right or even sane to remove the authors that have shaped classrooms for decades due to the heightened and soft sensitivity issues our generation has embraced. Furthermore, students and professors should not fear being labeled racist or sexist for wanting to discuss and teach such influential and remarkable works of literature, philosophy and history.
Will,
ReplyDeleteIf not removing the texts from class (which admittedly is different form statues or building honoring them) what should be done? Should we work more to critique their readings on the basis of race, gender, etc? And if we are to read more diverse authors, what should give way? I will admit that one problem I had designing this course was the balance between the classics and other authors that give us some diversity.
Well I certainly don't believe that any of the works should be removed from classes because they are too essential to the history and political ideology of our country and the West as a whole. The only balancing solution I can see is to just add more diverse authors to the courses in addition to the essential ones. This will add more course work, but I think it is worth it to ensure we do not lose the remarkable works from remarkable political minds.
DeleteGood points! Perhaps there are authors which are little known and more diverse who have the same ideas as the Founding Fathers or philosophers of the Enlightenment, but I can't think of many off the top of my head. Frantz Fanon was definitely a great philosopher, one that I've had the pleasure of studying in classes ranging from this one to existentialism. Cool stuff.
ReplyDeleteWell Fanon wrote at a much later time then the authors of the Enlightenment. The issue is that the enlightenment happened in the West where white men are the dominant political thinkers and philosophers. So finding any ideology from this time from diverse characters is highly unlikely.
DeleteOne cannot be labled racist unless they are...racist. One canot be sexist unless they are...sexist. I do believe that these men we've learned about have some importance to them but it is essential to understand how they came to be who the are and recognize the institutions that they benefitted from. Political correctness has not stopped anyone from using their 1st amendment but has exposed them to the consequences of it
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that remove those great philosophers out from the texts is not a cleaver step to further take. I don't believe Princeton named their public and international affair school after Woodrow Willson's name because of Wilson’s persistence in white supremacy. Princeton commemorates W Wilson for his great efforts to build the world as a united home. Everyone has his or her own personal flaws and defects, and we should not only focus on one person’s darkest side and then nullify all his opinions and reviews. Nonetheless, what we need to improve now is to examine those philosopher and founders of the United States in a more critically way.
You bring up a really good point here. I don't think we should turn away from our history because we don't like what that time period stood for. We should instead embrace it in order to learn from it and be proud of how far we have come. In addition, both President were great leaders, and what we view to be racist now is not how they saw it back then. What do you think so of the problems political correctness has caused in todays world? What do you think it has solved?
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