Obama Denounces Political Correctness But Calls Conservatives Hypersensitive, Too
President Barack Obama has spoken out against political correctness, expressing concern in a recent interview that many Americans, and not just liberals, are too quick to stifle political debate by discrediting political views that they don't agree with.
In an hour-long interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep on Dec. 15, Obama was asked if President-elect Donald Trump is right in saying that political correctness has "gone too far."
"This is a tricky issue," Obama responded. "Because the definition of political correctness is all over the map and I suspect that the president-elect's definition of political correctness would be different than mine."
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Obama initially stated that he doesn't think that harsh criticism towards those people who use derogatory terms to refer to women, minorities or the LGBT community should be considered political correctness because it is simply "good manners, sound values and hard-fought gains in the nature of American society and American community."
However, the president continued by stating that if political correctness leads to a societal "hypersensitivity" that results in "people not being able to express their opinions at all without someone suggesting they are victim," then "our social discourse and our political discourse becomes like walking on eggshells."
"If somebody says, 'You know what, I'm not sure affirmative action is the right way to solve racial problems in this country,' and somebody is immediately accused of being racist, well, then I think you have a point." Obama explained. "Although I happen to approve of affirmative action, I can have a polite dialogue with somebody who differs from me on that issue."
"On the one hand, my advice to progressives like myself, and this is advice I give my own daughters who are about to head off to college, is don't go around just looking for insults," the president continued. "You're tough. If somebody says something you don't agree with, just engage them on their ideas. But you don't have to feel that somehow because you're a black woman that you're being insulted. But, speak out for yourself and if you hear somebody saying something that is insulting, feel free to say to that guy, 'You are rude and your are ignorant,' and take them on."
The president added that liberals are not the only ones who "feed this sense of victimization" through the use of political correctness.
"The thing that I want to emphasize here, though, is the irony in this debate," Obama said. "You'll hear somebody like a Rush Limbaugh or other conservative commentators or radio shock jocks or conservative politicians who are very quick to jump on any evidence of progressives being 'politically correct' but who are constantly aggrieved and hypersensitive about the things they care about and our continually feeding this sense of victimization that they are being subject to reverse discrimination. I had to live through controversies like the notion that I was trying to kill Christmas."
"Where did that come from?" Obama asked. "Well, 'He said, Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas so that must be evidence of him either not being a Christian or not caring about Christmas,'" Obama added. "It sounds funny now but you will have entire debates in conservative circles around that. So, it cuts both ways."
Obama concluded by advising Americans to distinguish between criticism of those who are not "being courteous" and thinking about "how words affect other people" versus the inability to have "legitimate political debates."
