I just came across this video by noted philosopher Slavoj Zizek and found it to be quite interesting food for thought:
http://ift.tt/1zGftEV
To summarize his point:
He claims that modern political correctness is a form of totalitarianism, in that it forces individuals to not only follow the injunctions of social authority, but also to "do it with a smile" or rather: You have to want to do it. It prevents true contact between different group by masking existing racism or power differences behind politeness. He further says that this form of "respect" is in itself racist by putting minorities on a pedestal and denying them the same standards of behaviour as whites.
He instead advocates the use of "progressive racism", meaning politically uncorrect jokes to create an atmosphere of shared obscenity as a foundation for a trully equal society. The idea is to break racism by making it into a shared joke on everyone's expense, so to speak.
I found this interesting because it is a critique of political correctness from the left (Zizek considers himself a communist) and also because of the unusually enthusiastic response the video has received on Youtube.
Personally I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says, but I'm not 100% clear on how this "atmosphere" he describes should actually come about. For example, I can see that if you are good friends with a black person, you can probably get away with a lot, but this surely is not a recipe for how to behave in more official or public situations? I can also see this being used as an excuse by actual bigots to spew forth their racism with impunity. Where and how could a line be drawn?
http://ift.tt/1zGftEV
To summarize his point:
He claims that modern political correctness is a form of totalitarianism, in that it forces individuals to not only follow the injunctions of social authority, but also to "do it with a smile" or rather: You have to want to do it. It prevents true contact between different group by masking existing racism or power differences behind politeness. He further says that this form of "respect" is in itself racist by putting minorities on a pedestal and denying them the same standards of behaviour as whites.
He instead advocates the use of "progressive racism", meaning politically uncorrect jokes to create an atmosphere of shared obscenity as a foundation for a trully equal society. The idea is to break racism by making it into a shared joke on everyone's expense, so to speak.
I found this interesting because it is a critique of political correctness from the left (Zizek considers himself a communist) and also because of the unusually enthusiastic response the video has received on Youtube.
Personally I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says, but I'm not 100% clear on how this "atmosphere" he describes should actually come about. For example, I can see that if you are good friends with a black person, you can probably get away with a lot, but this surely is not a recipe for how to behave in more official or public situations? I can also see this being used as an excuse by actual bigots to spew forth their racism with impunity. Where and how could a line be drawn?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1OaOYDG
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