Guest Author“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” – Benjamin Franklin
In an age where governments and the mass media embrace liberal political correctness to frame our governance, news and events, there’s a corresponding demand to be bland.
Take for example last week’s action by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. These regulators took the lead in a contentious politically correct effort to have the Washington Redskins change their name. The nickname has been deemed politically incorrect even though the team has used that name for decades.
The board issued a 90-plus-page decision finding that the team’s name and logo are disparaging to Native Americans (remember, it’s poor taste to say “Indians” anymore) and took away legal protection of the team’s unique branding.
It’s no joke, as Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Paula Dean, Gilbert Gottfried, Michael Richards, and countless others can attest to. They all lost lucrative gigs, business opportunities and respect in their industries after uttering politically incorrect statements.
For the NFL and the Redskins organization, the trademark revocation is the beginning of the end of an era that saw little true oversight of the monopolistic practices of lucrative professional football. And it’s not just branding that’s affected. There will be more regulation of players’ safety, pricing and business practices as well.
The common defense of those embracing language or thought deemed offensive is to accuse critics of hypocrisy, censorship and violation of constitutional rights. Most of the time, such arguments are regarded as part of the anti-liberal and anti-progressive agendas of the conservative movement.
Media organization such as Fox News, Drudge, Limbaugh, Palin, Beck and Newsmax have built their businesses exploiting the strong emotions against progressive thinking.
George Will, the brilliant, prolific conservative writer for the Washington Post Syndicate, who for decades has published superb columns and books about politics and baseball, has effectively challenged progressive thought without damaging his career – until now.
Will was lambasted recently after he wrote against recent federal pronouncements about a need for better protection against sexual assaults on American campuses. In the article, he argued that the federal government’s intensified focus on sexual assault on college campuses had turned victimhood into a “coveted status” that “confers privileges.” He wrote that colleges should be rebelling against overregulation by the government.
“It is salutary that academia, with its adversarial stance toward limited government and cultural common sense, is making itself ludicrous. Academia is learning that its attempts to create victim-free campuses — by making everyone hypersensitive, even delusional, about victimizations — brings increasing supervision by the regulatory state that progressivism celebrates,” wrote Will.
Leftists argued that Will had diminished the seriousness of complaints of sexual assault on campuses. So true to course, those offended by WIll’s argument demanded that the Washington Post and other publications stop publishing his columns. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in fact, dropped his column.
“The column was offensive and inaccurate; we apologize for publishing it,” wrote Tony Messenger, editorial page editor.
It remains to be seen whether Will gets the boot at the Washington Post. But even if he survives, this overblown reaction to his column will suppress free thought and expression.
We need more, not less, of George Will in this country. Not to enrich the Fox News world of backlash, but to ensure free speech and free thought.
Will has had a brilliant career and has influenced generations of the best and brightest politicians and thinkers in the country. Destroying his career over this one column would be true censorship and a poor reflection on the American press and what is left of our “democratic” institutions.
Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for Context Florida and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, N.Y. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
