DANGER OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
The greatest intellectual danger of political correctness is its assumption that there are some ideas too dangerous to be heard, some words too hurtful to be allowed, some opinions no one is ever again permitted to hold. It assumes that all advances in the rights of the downtrodden are final victories, and that questioning those victories is tantamount to colonialism, night riding and the sword. Children are taught to fear sticks and stones but chant that names will never hurt them. Names, and the ideas behind them, do hurt people. Political correctness argues that the price of peace in a racially diverse America may be suppressing ideas that cause such pain. Perhaps that could mean a more civilized nation. Up to now, though, America’s genius has not been in its civility, but rather in its raucous barroom brawl in search of the truth. From the December 2, 1993 issue of Time Magazine, “Politics of Separation,” pg. 73
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