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“Political Correctness”

“Political Correctness”

Posted by Stephan Kinsella on February 17, 2005 05:04 PM

Tucker tells me he thinks the term “PC” is no longer accurate. I am not sure what term to use instead, e.g., to refer to “PC” type libertarians. I like the Rothbard term “Dimwit and Serioso” libertarians. They are, after all, by and large humorless drones.

“Totalitarian/egalitarian” libertarians comes to mind too. Also possibly applicable is one I started using, “Cocktail Party” libertarians. I kind of like that one. The type who want to impress the Beltway cocktail party set.

I refer of course to the type that call you a bigot if you burp; the kind who think you are a neo-Confederate holocaust denier and slavery sympathizer if you happen to believe Lincoln was a murdering tyrant engaged in an unconstitutional war. The “hair-trigger” libertarians. The ones who laughingly pose as Randian-style Grand Inquisitor types. What is the best term for these people?

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  • wirkman virkkala March 28, 2010, 8:20 pm

    “Weak Brethren Enforcers” might work.

    The root of all this was nicely suggested by the Apostle Paul, who was, himself, an enforcer of Christian Self-Servitude. By theory, he believed Christians liberated, liberated from the awesome weight of the Law. But in practice, if something were to offend “a weaker brother,” then good Christians were supposed to refrain from doing it, no matter how innocuous, “lest our brother stumble.”

    The Weak Brethren Enforcers are there to make sure we do not offend the true weak brethren of our time, the liberals — who themselves cater to and treat as inferiors-to-be-coddled all touchy blacks, women, lesbians, trans-gendered, and anyone else who has some claim (plausible or not) to being “discriminated against,” and thus likely to take offense at some provocative speech that might undermine their standing as perpetual victim. This is the origin of “political correctness.”

    Yes, it’s in Pauline Christianity, First Epistle to the Corinthians.

    In the liberals’ case, they come off as pathetic victim-mongers. In the Weak Brethren Enforcers’ case, they come off as scared-of-criticism-by-liberals namby-pamby nincompoops.

    For modern liberals and for Weak Brethren Enforcers of ALL schools, there is no “arena” in which speech is free, no ream where ideas are always in contest, where adults can gird up their loins to engage with the full panoply of the ideas open to them. Oh, no. We must model our public discourse on the rules we associate with the home, the school, and especially the synagogue or church.

    An alternative epithet might be Stumbling-Brother-Bothers.

    Perhaps an anagram is necessary: Stumbling Over Brothers Bothers Enforcers’ Righteousness, or SOBBERs.

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