From Armavirumque, the weblog of The New Criterion magazine, comes this excerpt from a speech by TNC managing editor Roger Kimball that won him the 2003 Douglas-Home Trust prize. A couple of excerpts from the excerpt:
Political correctness can be seen as part of the perennial human attraction to moral conformity, to be part of what the American art critic Harold Rosenberg called the "herd of independent minds"......the phenomenon of political correctness is a great teacher of the often overlooked fact that the preposterous and the malign can cohabit happily. The student accused of lookism can be severely penalised, as can the student accused of "misdirected laughter"...
...Indirection--moral subtlety, an appreciation of human imperfection--is a resource untapped by the politically correct. In their pursuit of a better, more enlightened world, they let an abstract moralism triumph over realism, benevolence over prudence, earnest humourlessness over patience.
I've been hooked on Kimball ever since I read The Long March , his wonderful critique of how the 60's cultural revolution changed America. I can't wait to read the rest of his award-winning PC talk.
Posted by dan at November 24, 2003 09:52 PM