PC doesn't stop at "inclusivity" or "empathy". By threatening the livelihood of any person who says something that offends a progressive who thinks the statemen

PC doesn't stop at "inclusivity" or "empathy". By threatening the livelihood of any person who says something that offends a progressive who thinks the statement might offend someone of a protected class, PC has a chilling effect on the college classroom. See "The Hidden Impact of Political Correctness"[1] "What can be done? One option to embrace the PC party line at every opportunity since those who object (i.e., conservatives, Christian fundamentalists) stoically forbear this nonsense and lack the supporting indignation infrastructure. But, for those disinclined to fake it, the only viable option is to avoid anything that might be mangled into offensiveness. Purging the course is hardly fool-proof, but it is relatively undemanding, almost morally painless and students rarely notice the difference. Let me offer a first-hand example. I once taught the basic American government lecture course and Constitution lecture covered the three-fifths compromise - the Article I, Section 2 provision that counted "other persons" (i.e., slaves and untaxed Indians - blacks are never mentioned by name ) as three-fifths of a person for purposes of House representation. I explained that Southerners wanted to treat slaves as a whole person since this would sharply boost their representation while abolitionist New Englanders proposed counting slaves as zero. Unfortunately, this three-fifths provision has now been interpreted by some black activists (including an African American colleague who stated her misinformed opinion in a public law school lecture) as "proof" of America's racist origins. Black students have probably encountered this historical mistruth elsewhere (Jesse Jackson once endorsed it) and it does appear superficially plausible. Rather than risk being accused of covering up racism or telling lies, I dropped the topic altogether. I similarly removed all discussion of slavery so students thus never learned that the while the Constitution did not outlaw slavery, it did permit a ban on importing slaves after 1808 and this was, indeed, done - which, in turn, made those slaves already in America exceedingly costly and thus at times too valuable to risk at dangerous labor (I further skipped how the ever-plentiful Irish were instead hired for life-threatening jobs)." Meanwhile, left-wing students steeped in Political Correctness regularly attempt to shut down and silence speakers that offend them. Recently students at Brown University shouted down a former NYC police commissioner[2] that came to speak at the campus, calling him a "racist" in response to NYC's very successful stop-and-frisk policy designed to get illegal guns off the street. It used to be said that the antidote to bad speech was more speech. Now, the PC lynch mob is feeling its power, since its members know that university administrators will not discipline progressives. [1] http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2007/09/the_hidden_impact_of_political.html http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2007/09/the_hidden... [2] http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362874/how-now-brown-kow-tow-jack-fowler http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/362874/how-now-brown-ko...