Political Correctness

February 18, 2019
Two pairs of notable public figures face off in the semiannual Munk Debate, a Canadian series addressing contentious issues in public policy, on the topic “what you call political correctness, I call progress,” transcribed here along with interviews with the participants. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg argues that challenges to political correctness are actually attempts to “delegitimize any attempt for women and sexual and racial minorities to overcome discrimination.” Academic and journalist Michael Eric Dyson (Tears We Cannot Stop) claims that narrow minority group identifications originated with majority groups anxious about maintaining their privilege. Professor and author Jordan Peterson (12 Rules for Life) emphasizes that free speech and the sovereignty of the individual are paramount. Actor Stephen Fry, who identifies as gay, liberal, and “soft,” posits that political correctness is more concerned with being right than being effective. The most heated interactions come when Peterson is on the defensive, with Dyson calling Peterson a “mean white man” and Goldberg calling Peterson out for his public criticism of the #MeToo movement. The sense of spectacle that the creators of this event must have intended by choosing these debaters does not fully come through in the text-only version, but readers who love or love to hate any of the participants will be intrigued.