The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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How correct is political correctness?

How+correct+is+political+correctness%3F

Historically, college campuses have always been havens of free speech and self-expression. But in recent years, at some colleges and universities, that simply hasn’t been the case.

In California, Modesto Junior College Student Van Tuinen was stopped from handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution on his school’s campus. The University of Cincinnati faced accusations of violating students’ First Amendment rights when it restricted members of the UC chapter of Young Americans for Liberty from circulating a petition across campus.

Most recently, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was invited and then disinvited to receive an honorary degree at Brandeis University’s commencement ceremonies, after some students complained that her outspoken criticism of militant Islam might be offensive.

Over the years, people have been fighting to end the use of bigoted and offensive terms. This battle began in the 70‘s, and while the efforts and motives are very well-meant, the line between “intentionally insulting” and “honest mistake” has blurred considerably.

It’s become very difficult for some people to recognize the difference between someone using the wrong word, and someone using a hateful word. All-out wars have been waged over simple slip ups, such as using the word “agender” instead of “genderless,” honest and common mistakes which can be labeled “hostile.”

It’s becoming a prevalent issue amongst internet bloggers, specifically on websites like Tumblr, where many people of different backgrounds and social standings come together and converse on touchy topics such as race, sexual orientation and gender.

It’s understandable that there is a lot of pent up aggression and anger in some of these bloggers after dealing with actual bigots for years at a time, some of these people are ready to take their blind fury out on people who simply mixed up their terms.

Among these new strange social constructs being put into effect, a new word has been coined to properly define small acts of subtle racism or oppression – “microaggression,” which is “the idea that specific interactions between those of different races, cultures, or genders can be interpreted as small acts of mostly non-physical aggression.” Many of the small mistakes which people often make fall under this category.

The effect these new rules have had on the online blogging community can be crippling; free expression becomes difficult as no one wants to step on anyone’s toes, and no one wants to address anything too sensitive openly for fear of social ruin. These constructs make it much easier to label everyone as a bigot, while making it almost impossible to remove that reputation and redeem oneself, should a slip up occur.

These unspoken laws aren’t only affecting people regarding comments made about race, religion or gender and sexual identity, but they can prevent people from even making innocent comments with no mention of sensitive subject matter.

The cause for this kind of irrational behavior may be due to the great confusion regarding the difference between hate speech and mislabeling. People appear to be growing less and less able to discern negative intention from harmless mix up.

Hate speech is words created to be offensive, the very definitions of such words are usually centered around small-minded stereotypes. They are often used in anger and during outbursts. There have been rallies on college campuses and other properties dating back to as late as the 1970’s, to end the use of discriminatory language. Professor George Aaron Broadwell, a linguistic discrimination expert, and an expert on Anthropology, offers his views on hateful language;
“Since I am actually in favor of sensitive and inclusive language, let me explain my position. I think it is a good idea to use language carefully, and to avoid language that minority groups and women find offensive. On university campuses, students should avoid bigoted language directed at other members of the community.”

Broadwell adds, “The Republican critique of this position is to portray this as censorship. But all of our constitutional rights have some limits. Slanderous speech, for example, is illegal because of its effect on the slandered. In a similar way, I think it is appropriate for universities to prohibit certain kinds of racist/homophobic language because of its corrosive effect on the university community.”

When trying to hand out copies of the constitution on his school’s campus, Van Tuinen was allegedly informed by college officials that he could get permission to distribute the constitution copies, if he pre-registered for time in the “free speech zone,” a concrete slab big enough for two people. An administrator told him that he had two people on campus already using the slab, so he’d have to wait until either Sept. 20, 27, or to a date sometime in October. Citing a quote from Charles C. Haynes’ article regarding this incident, he shares his opposition to limiting speech on campuses,
“Virtually everything about the Modesto Junior College ‘free speech’ policy is wrongheaded and unconstitutional.” As Robert Shibley of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) explains, the college “sent police to enforce an unconstitutional rule, said that students could not freely distribute literature, placed a waiting period on free speech, produced an artificial scarcity of room for free speech with a tiny ‘free speech area,’ and limited the number of speakers on campus to two at a time.”

Haynes continues, “Why have so many American institutions of higher learning, reputed bastions of intellectual freedom, retreated into fear of freedom? Are school officials afraid of debate and dissent? Are they trying to keep people (outside the zone) from hearing words that may offend someone?”

But that’s in regards to deliberately hateful speech; there’s no subtlety in a slur, but what does one do when they don’t even know they’re using the wrong word? With slip ups, some people can’t tell passive aggression from a simple lack of clarity, and their idea of “proper education” is less than favorable.

For Ayaan Hirsi Ali, being barred from Brandeis’ commencement was just the latest in a string of obstacles she has faced in speaking her views. After Ali wrote her 2004 screenplay “Submission,” which chronicled the trials and tribulations affecting Muslim women and girls, she received death threats. In fact, the film’s director Theo van Gogh was assassinated. He was found with a note pinned to his jacket which called out Hirsi, personally. She was then placed under police protection.

Brandeis, for its part, had this to say: “She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world. That said, we cannot overlook certain parts of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values. For all concerned, we regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier.”

Ali, on the other hand, called the university’s excuse “feeble.”

While a world of understanding and caution when speaking might seem like a good idea, some see it as being carried out by irrational, overly defensive people who have the potential to lose their cool at the first inkling of even the slightest example of “microaggression.” While the dissent usually comes with good intentions, a question which we should be asking is how much speech we are willing to restrict.