by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n T<\/span>he New York City Council recently passed a resolution banning the use of the word \u201cnigger.\u201d The resolution, of course, is entirely symbolic, since trying to control language by fiat is like King Canute trying to stop the tide. Language isn\u2019t legislated, but grows and changes organically through the people who speak it. That\u2019s why the grammar police always fight a losing battle.<\/p>\n More interesting is what this preening display of self-righteousness says about our culture of eternal childhood. The larger pathology such hypersensitivity reflects is a narcissistic obsession with individual feelings more typical of children. Like a child, we think that freedom from hurt feelings is a human right. We think we are entitled to live our lives without ever encountering any word or deed that does not confirm our estimation of ourselves as wonderful, important creatures. We think that the whole world is obligated to monitor its behavior to make sure that we never feel bad.<\/p>\n Consider this recent event. A law firm recruiter was reading from a 1920s trial transcript containing the word \u201cnigger,\u201d an epithet as common back then as bootleg gin. A student pitched a fit, and the obligatory groveling apologies and protestations of the love of \u201cdiversity\u201d issued from the law school and the firm. Instead of telling the student to grow up and realize the world doesn\u2019t give a tinker\u2019s damn (apologies to any tinkers out there who are offended by this metaphor) about anybody\u2019s feelings, they validated the student\u2019s inflated self-importance. Given that any American, of whatever race, graduating from law school like this student will live lives of material prosperity and privilege light years beyond what 99% of the human race has experienced, this kid\u2019s hurt feelings is meaningless in the catalogue of human misery.<\/p>\n T<\/span>his whole obsession with hurt feelings reflects as well a child-like intellectual incoherence. First, the threshold of insult or injury is entirely subjective, existing in the mind of the individual. Thus the rest of us cannot refer to any consistent, public standard to guide us, since the standard is arbitrary and continually shifting. Talking about the word \u201cnigger\u201d rather than directing it maliciously at an individual person would seem to be an obvious distinction we can all observe. But the proliferation of the silly euphemism the \u201cn-word\u201d shows that even this common-sense standard has been abandoned. Or take the Washington, D.C. official fired some years back for using the word \u201cniggardly,\u201d which derives from Scandinavian and so has nothing to do with the word \u201cnigger.\u201d What\u2019s next, banning the word \u201cniggling\u201d? Just to be safe, shouldn\u2019t we ban the syllable \u201cnig\u201d? Surely the loss of words like \u201crenege\u201d or \u201cnegotiate\u201d is not too small a price to pay to avoid hurting someone\u2019s feelings. Since it\u2019s impossible to know every individual standard, all we can do is observe strict self-censorship no matter how silly.<\/p>\n The other glaring problem with this obsession with hurt feelings is that it is politically selected, just like those phony claims of \u201cdiversity,\u201d which usually means creating a multicolored herd of the politically like-minded. Just about every university in this country insults the beliefs of Christians, Republicans, athletes, white males, and conservatives on a daily basis. Anti-Semitism, thinly camouflaged as \u201canti-Zionism,\u201d is indulged constantly. The culture of white Southerners is mocked and demonized with glee. No one pays attention to complaints about this insensitivity. Nor should he (apologies to any women offended by my sexist use of the masculine pronoun). Part of being an adult is learning to deal with a world in which you, your beliefs, and your feelings are no more important than anybody else\u2019s. What\u2019s objectionable is the double standard and the censorship, particularly glaring in a university, supposedly the bastion of free speech and free thought, no matter whose ideological or political ox is gored (apologies to any oxen who are offended by this metaphor).<\/p>\n Most importantly, however, this obsession with individual feelings is incompatible with democratic freedom. A political system that allows large numbers of citizens to participate in public debate is necessarily raucous, insulting, and often vulgar. Just look at ancient Athens, where the level of political invective and insult makes our political campaigns sound like a Jane Austen novel. That\u2019s why elitist snobs like Plato disliked democracy. When you give average people free speech, the debate is going to be rough and tough. If you want to participate, you have to be able to take it. The only alternative is some sort of control by an elite that always ends up stifling the expression of ideas and serving a narrow political interest \u2014 exactly what we see today in our universities and media. I learned this lesson the few years I was condemned to my university\u2019s Academic Senate. As soon as the debate on an issue started getting close to the truth, someone would jump up and start squealing about \u201ccivility,\u201d and nothing useful happened.<\/p>\n Y<\/span>ou can\u2019t have free speech and sensitivity to feelings at the same time. The issues we as citizens have to debate are contentious, complex, and involve passionately held and conflicting values and principles. To impose an arbitrary, subjective, finely calibrated standard of speech is to impose censorship. Not all true and useful ideas come in nice civil packages. Some of the truest political discourse one can hear these days is on the supremely vulgar and politically incorrect\u00a0South Park<\/i>.<\/p>\n A commitment to the free exchange of ideas and speech no matter how rude and insensitive is the\u00a0sine qua non<\/i>\u00a0of political freedom. After all, people have embraced many pernicious ideas because they make people feel good. The attack on racial superiority that reinforced segregation hurt a lot of people\u2019s feelings and challenged some of their most cherished values. But more important than feelings was the Constitutional principle of equal opportunity regardless of the accident of race. Nothing should be more sacred than the truth or soundness of ideas. For of all the hurtful truths, political truth is often the most hurtful. That\u2019s the price we pay for freedom.<\/p>\n \u00a92007 Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Legislating words is silly, arbitrary, and a danger to freedom. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The New York City Council recently passed a resolution banning the use of the word \u201cnigger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,760],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1qM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5547,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/inside-the-cease-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":0},"title":"Inside the “Cease-fire”","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"U.N.'s looming failure reveals West's moral confusion by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers With every crisis in the war against Islamic jihad, the West displays a suicidal appeasement that heartens the enemy and lessens any chance of victory. The absurd \u201ccease fire\u201d the U.N. recently hammered out between Israel and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6606,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/bruce-thornton-on-secure-freedom-radio-with-frank-gaffney\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":1},"title":"Bruce Thornton on Secure Freedom Radio with Frank Gaffney","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Seth Jones, Bruce Thornton, Peter Pham, Diana West October 9th, 2013\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0Comments SETH JONES, Associate Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation, joins guest host DAN BONGINO, to help explain the terror threat from and historical background of the terrorist organization al-Shabaab. BRUCE THORNTON, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5553,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/no-resolution-at-all-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":2},"title":"No Resolution At All","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Why the U.N. can't solve the problem of Hezbollah by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The U.N. resolution that supposedly will solve the problem of Hezbollah is a perfect example of the delusions inhibiting the West in its fight against jihadist terror. According to the resolution, the current impotent U.N.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5142,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/no-resolution-at-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":3},"title":"No Resolution At All","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Why the U.N. can't solve the problem of Hezbollah. by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The U.N. resolution that supposedly will solve the problem of Hezbollah is a perfect example of the delusions inhibiting the West in its fight against jihadist terror. According to the resolution, the current impotent U.N.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3052,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/corrupt-language-breeds-bad-history-and-bad-policy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":4},"title":"Corrupt Language Breeds Bad History and Bad Policy","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society As the history of communism and fascism both illustrate, modern political tyranny has relied on fabricated history to legitimize its claims and actions, and such history in turn relies on the debasement of language. Nowhere is this axiom more evident than in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Israel"","block_context":{"text":"Israel","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/israel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/no-labels-no-democracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5504,"position":5},"title":"“No Labels,” No Democracy","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com Earlier this month, Republican David Frum and Democrat William A. Galston published a\u00a0manifesto\u00a0in the\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0announcing the birth of a new political movement, No Labels, the first meeting of which was December 13. The \u201chyper-polarization of our politics,\u201d Frum and Galston write, \u201cthwarts an adult conversation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. 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