Claire Lehmann: evaluation

Transcript context

…Right. If someone says, “I agree. It’s too tough. There are unfair cases of people being punished. But the norm has to be too tough,” why is that wrong? I think having social norms that frown upon racism and sexism are very important and useful. But when we talk about political correctness, we’re not really talking about social norms. We’re talking about people being punished for asking questions and expressing doubt and expressing uncertainty. The norms are just overactive. They’re hyperactive. The norms where expressing a racial epithet and using race to insult someone—there should be a taboo against that. But I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about political correctness. We’re talking about the tool that’s used to stop people from having independent thought and asking questions about social phenomena and questioning some of the more simplistic narratives that get presented around issues of gender and race. The norms that prevent people from using race or gender as an insult, I don’t think they’re too tough. I think that they’re perfectly reasonable. There’s a recent example: Scarlett Johansson was slated to play a transgender character in a movie. She is not herself transgender. Many people complained. Now, she has declined the role. What’s your take on that episode? Should the complaints have come? Should she have stepped out of the role?…

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