ON POLITICAL CORRECTNESS:COMMENT ON LOURY
Abstract
THE FORUM ON POLITICAL CORRECTNESS COMMENT ON LOURY Phil Ryan Carleton University, Canada Glenn Loury's 'Self-censorship in Public Discourse' (1994) is an eloquent contribution to the study of 'political correctness' (PC). This comment argues, however, that a correct assessment of the effects of PC must be based upon a clear-eyed view of the state of discourse in our culture. If one idealizes the current situation, as Loury has implicitly done, one will exaggerate the potential dangers of PC and minimize the potential benefits of self-restraint in social discourse. Loury defines the 'regime of political correctness' as an 'equilibrium pattern of expression and inference within a given community where receivers impute undesirable qualities to senders who express them- selves in an "incorrect" way and, as a result, senders avoid such expressions' (1994, 435). Certain expressions or opinions are invested with a 'normative' layer of meaning that can overwhelm the 'literal' layer: to use the term 'Black' rather than 'African American' may well negate the effects of 'an otherwise admirable argument about diversity' (p. 435). Not just specific words, but a whole series of arguments may also become taboo. Therein lies the danger: 'the effective examination of fundamental moral questions