I’ve written before that I think political correctness is a concept that’s worn out whatever use it has. But of course, if you want to complain “the left is silencing free speech in favor of group think!” it’s the first tool to reach for. Case in point, Jonathan Chait, who’s recent column combines genuinely bad behavior (a woman assaults an abortion protester for having an offensive sign) with (what else) liberals who get criticized (and harshly!) by other liberals (my god, some people actually mocked Hanna Rosen for her writing!), obsessions with identity politics and graduating classes who protest against commencement speakers with the “wrong” views (because not having someone accept a large fee for a speech is the same as censorship). And judging by the column, PC is a thing unique to liberals (Julian Sanchez discusses the psychology of self-censorship here).
Gawker guts Chait’s argument, and points out how he strains to make the case. LGM dissects Chait’s view that identity politics is something minorities do (because white people are, of course, above such things).
•A great history of the birth and growth of corporate rights.
•Jacobin suggests a guaranteed income for everyone is also good for the environment.
•An old review of D’Nesh D’Souza’s The End of Racism, a book that explains (among other things) how perfectly rational racial stereotypes are.
•Women in Theology says “inheritance” can cover the ground as “privilege” more effectively.
•The risks of giving money to Kickstarter projects.
•As more people shift to self-employment, will it have a ripple effect?
•Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig writes about ordinances banning feeding the homeless, and how they show the objections to government aid can crop up even if it did all convert to private charity.
•The grim reason Argentine forensic anthropologists are the world’s best.
•Strippers in Washington state argue their right to privacy should trump the fact their licensing data (strippers have to be licensed there) is theoretically public knowledge.
•Slacktivist discusses how GK Chesterons anti-semitism resembles modern bigotry: Chesterton argues that it’s up to the Jews to prove they’re not greasy money-lending parasites, just the way Muslims have to prove they’re not terrorists and people’s fear of black people is “proof” that black people are a problem.
•Obama stopping deportation of illegal immigrants is a Hitlerian tactic!!!!!!! It’s also socialism and ethnic cleansing!!!! He’s also Charles I of England!!! Scott Lemieux says that while it’s not the ideal approach, it’s the best we can get with the current Republican congress (and no, neither tyranny nor illegal)
•A lawyer in San Francisco warns her client he doesn’t have to speak to the cops. So the cops arrest her.
