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Cabrillo College Claudia Close Honors Ethics – Philosophy 10H Fall 2016

Case Study #2: Kant, Trump & Political Correctness

Read the assigned sections on Kant and the attached article from PBS Newshour, and then answer the following questions. The completed assignment should be four pages long, (approximately 2800 words) using 12 pt. fonts and single spacing with one inch margins. Please follow the assigned format as exemplified at the end of your first case study assignment. Each answer should be separated, numbered and proportionate to the number of points possible. This study is worth a total of 60 points.

Your completed assignment is due on the 9th of November. Please refer to the first assignment for general suggestions, grading rubrics, and a

sample completed assignment!

1. Extract and paraphrase Trump supporter’s justification for why they agree with his rejection of politically correct speech. (5 points)

2. Identify the relevant moral issues associated with this case – (3-5 questions) Remember that a moral issue is normative – these are to be expressed as questions using normative terms (e.g. should, ought, moral rights, etc.). (5 points)

3. Asking the right questions: What facts would you need to know about this case to make a reasonably informed judgment? In this section, note that you should be raising questions such as the nature of Trump’s comments, available data supporting his claims, the history of the movement called “political correctness,” etc., but not questions about Kant. Provide as a bulleted list and pose in question form. For this assignment, you do not have to do all the research but you need to raise the kind of questions that would drive such a project. These should be research questions and as such should be concrete and answerable. No bias or prejudice should be evident and the questions should be non-normative (no “ought” or “should” questions). Think about facts that, if known might help determine how one should or could respond to the case. (10 points)

4. Findings: Present the most significant facts and data that you discovered upon researching some of the above questions. The selection of which data you present should be based on which evidence you found to be particularly relevant and compelling; You need discuss only the critical aspects of your research that inform your applications and conclusion. (10 points)

5. Kant’s Position: Pending the acquisition of all of this information, how do you think Kant would respond to this case? Should conventions of political correctness be rejected? You may incorporate the APPE case study which includes areas of comedy and entertainment. Be sure to provide citations from Kant (primary source = Kant’s writings and does not include secondary commentary from Rosenstand or from me) to support your answer. In citing the quote, all you need do is indicate the page from the text (see example). Note that this question carries the highest weight in points. (20 points)

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6. Critical Objection: Identify one key problem with Kant’s deontic approach ethics as it applies to this particular case. (Hint: start with the objections to the theory and determine if any become especially relevant to this case.) (5 points)

7. Conclusion: Should conventions of political correctness be rejected? You may incorporate the APPE case study which includes areas of comedy and entertainment. Defend your answer without resorting to a repetition of points made in previous sections. (5 points)

Background1: Case Study #2

VOTE 2016

‘No more political correctness’

for Trump supporters 2

Donald Trump’s inflammatory statements

about Mexican immigrants, Muslim refugees

and women who get abortions may

eventually be his campaign’s undoing, some

1 Please note that you are not limited to the background offered. It is expected that you will do a bit more in-depth reading to develop your thesis. You may feel free to use any credible/reliable source as evidence for your arguments. Additionally you may use additional material from Aristotle to defend your answers. Please provide full citation for all research. 2 Geller, Adam, and Bryna Godar. "‘No More Political Correctness’ for Trump Supporters." PBS, 10 Apr. 2016. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/no-more-political-correctness-for-trump-supporters/>.

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analysts say. But don’t tell that to the many supporters such as Titus Kottke, attracted to

the Republican front-runner specifically because he shoots from the lip.

“No more political correctness,” said Kottke, 22, a cattle trucker and construction worker

from Athens, Wisconsin, who waited hours last weekend to see the candidate in a line

stretching the length of a shopping mall.

Trump is “not scared to offend people,” Kottke said. He agrees with some of the views

Trump expresses but likes the fact that the candidate shows the confidence to reject the

dogma of political correctness. That “takes away your freedom of speech, pretty much.

You can’t say anything.”

For years, conservatives have decried political correctness as a scourge of orthodox

beliefs and language, imposed by liberals, that keeps people from voicing uncomfortable

truths.

Now, some Trump supporters – many white, working-class voters frustrated with the

country’s shifting economics and demographics – applaud him for not being afraid to make

noise about the things that anger them but that they feel discouraged from saying out loud.

“It’s a cultural backlash,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican political strategist who ran Sen.

John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “Millions and millions of people in this country,

blue-collar people, feel that their values are under assault, that they’re looked down upon,

condescended to by the elites.”

Trump rival Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has quit

the 2016 race, are among the candidates who also have outspoken in decrying political

correctness.

But Trump has made defiance of the manners usually governing politics a signature of his

campaign.

“The big problem this country has is being politically correct,” he said in a debate in

August, when pressed on his comments about women that brought criticism. “I’ve been

challenged by so many people and I don’t frankly have time for total political correctness.

And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time either.”

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In doing so, Trump tapped into a frustration shared even by many voters who disagree

with him on other issues. In an October poll of Americans by Fairleigh Dickinson

University, more than two-thirds agreed that political correctness is a “big problem” for the

country. Among Republicans, it was 81 percent.

That sentiment is clear in conversations with Trump supporters.

“Let him be a man with the guts to say what he wants,” said Polly Day, 74, a retired nurse

from Wausau, Wisconsin, who came to a Trump rally last Saturday in nearby Rothschild.

“Should he tone down? He’ll figure that out on his own. I like him the way he is.”

At the same rally, Kottke said Trump’s rejection of political correctness is one of the main

reasons he supports him, along with the candidate’s determination to improve security,

protect jobs and keep Muslims out of the country.

Plenty of others agreed with him.

“Finally somebody’s coming in that has the cojones to say something and to do

something,” said Ray Henry, another supporter. “I think he’s saying what a lot of what

America’s feeling right now … enough’s enough.”

Trump’s flouting of political correctness has turned out to be a potent rhetorical weapon,

political analysts say, but could prove troublesome.

“At its best, not being politically correct comes across as direct, unfiltered and honest. At

its worst, not being politically correct comes across as crude, rude and insulting,” said Whit

Ayres, a Republican pollster who previously worked for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s

presidential campaign. Trump’s supporters “may find it refreshing. That doesn’t mean they

would find it presidential.”

Ayres and other analysts say Trump’s rejection of political correctness appeals to voters

frustrated by the setbacks of the Great Recession and the global economy; immigration

that has made the country more heterogeneous; and cultural trends such as gay marriage

and measures to fight discrimination against African-Americans, which make them feel

marginalized.

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“This doesn’t fall out of left field,” said Marc Hetherington, a professor of political science at

Vanderbilt University who studies polarization and voter trust. “But what these political

actors have done, Trump and Cruz in particular, is give that … worry and frustration a

voice.”

That frustration was made clear in a poll by Quinnipiac University, released Tuesday, that

found a deep vein of dissatisfaction among Trump supporters.

Nine in 10 questioned said their values and beliefs are under attack. Eight in 10 said the

government has gone too far in assisting minorities, a view shared by 76 percent of Cruz

supporters. But Trump was unrivaled in claiming the largest number of supporters – 84

percent – who agreed that the U.S. needs a leader “willing to say or do anything” to tackle

the country’s problems.

Political correctness entered the American vocabulary in the 1960s and 1970s. New Left

activists advocating for civil rights and feminism and against the Vietnam War used it to

describe the gap between their high-minded ideals and everyday actions.

“It was a kind of understanding that you can’t be perfect all the time,” said Ruth Perry, a

professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who wrote a 1992 article on the

early history of political correctness. “It was an awareness of the ways in which all of us

are inconsistent.”

As it gained broader usage, political correctness came to mean a careful avoidance of

words or actions that could offend minorities, women or others, often to the point of

excess. Conservative critics have, for decades, pointed to it as an enforced ideology run

amok.

“I think that the American people … are sick to death of the choking conformity, the

intellectual tyranny that is produced by political correctness,” said Nick Adams, an

Australian-born commentator who wrote “Retaking America: Crushing Political

Correctness.”

Adams, who has lived in the U.S. since 2009, said he believes many voters are drawn to

Trump’s rejection of that correctness, and his emphasis on reclaiming individualism,

identity and self-confidence stripped away by it.

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At the Wisconsin rally, a number of Trump supporters offered a similar appraisal.

“We have gone overboard with political correctness, everyone backtracking on their

statements,” said Chris Sharkey, 39, of Wausau, who says he chafes at behavioral

strictures in his workplace, where human resource officers tell employees to avoid

discussing politics.

The U.S., Sharkey said, needs to step up screening of Muslims trying to enter the country

and bring back jobs employers have moved overseas – and Trump shouldn’t have to

apologize for saying so.

But some observers say Trump’s appeal is less about speaking a particular truth than it is

giving frustrated voters a means to vent.

“There’s this sense of angry, white working-class discontent,” said Patricia Aufderheide, a

professor of communication at American University who edited a book of essays on

political correctness.

“Trump has given people permission to say things out loud that are usually tucked in until

after the third drink at Thanksgiving dinner,” she said. “But I think they’ve always been

there.”

This report was written by Adam Geller and Bryna Godar of the Associated Press.

Case #7: Is Political Correctness is a Joke?

Last year, Comedy Central chose Trevor Noah to take Jon Stewart’s place on The Daily

Show, and it did not take long for his tweets, many from 2012 and before, to cause a stir. The

tweets included distasteful jokes about Jews and women, such as:

“Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man.#BeatsByDreidel,” Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah), May 12, 2014.

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“ ‘Oh yeah the weekend. People are gonna get drunk & think that I'm sexy!’ - fat chicks everywhere.” Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah), October 14, 2011.

People were outraged.1 Similarly, comedian Anthony Jeselnik was pressured to remove a joke that he had tweeted about the Boston Marathon bombing: on the day of the tragic incident, he tweeted, “Guys, today there are just some lines that should not be crossed. Especially the

finish line.”2 These are just two of many examples of comedians facing backlash for offensive and politically incorrect jokes. And this trend of being offended by—and even censoring—such

jokes is not going anywhere. On college campuses, political correctness is paramount.3

Some feel that this trend toward political correctness is bad for comedy. For example,

Jerry Seinfeld described it as a “creepy PC thing” that “really bothers” him.4 As one

commentator analyzed the issue in the context of comedy on college campuses: As I listened to the kids hash out whom to invite, it became clear that to get work, a comic had to be at once

funny—genuinely funny—and also deeply respectful of a particular set of beliefs. These beliefs included, but were in no way limited to, the following: women, as a group, should never be made

to feel uncomfortable; people whose sexual orientation falls beyond the spectrum of heterosexuality must be reassured of their special value; racial injustice is best addressed in tones

of bitter anguish or inspirational calls to action; Muslims are friendly helpers whom we should

cherish; and belonging to any potentially “marginalized” community involves a crippling hypersensitivity that must always be respected. Moreover, the commentator noted, “These

young people have decided that some subjects—among them rape and race—are so serious that

they shouldn’t be fodder for comics.”5

But others believe that the trend toward political correctness is a good thing for comedy.

Comedian Sarah Silverman explains, “To a degree, everyone’s going to be offended by

something, so you can’t just decide on your material based on not offending anyone. But, I do

think it’s important, as a comedian, as a human, to change with the times. To change with new

information. . . . I think it’s a sign of being old when you’re put off by that.” For example, she

used to argue that it was fine to use the word “gay” pejoratively, but now she has stopped

1 Anna Silman, “Did Trevor Noah’s Twitter history just kill ‘The Daily Show’?” Salon, March 31, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/did_trevor_noahs_twitter_history_just_kill_the_daily_show/.

2 Jason Zinoman, “Political Correctness Isn’t Ruining Comedy. It’s Helping.,” The New York Times, Oct. 20, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/arts/television/political-correctness-isnt-ruining-comedy-its-helping.html.

3 Caitlin Flanagan, “That’s Not Funny! Today’s College Students Can’t Seem to Take a Joke,” The Atlantic, September 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/.

4 “Jerry Seinfeld is Tired of Political Correctness,” Late Night with Seth Meyers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDHjwaUtPI.

5 See also, Lindy West, “How to Make a Rape Joke,” Jezebel, July 12, 2012, http://jezebel.com/5925186/how-to- make-a-rape-joke.

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because she felt like she had “become the guy from fifty years ago who says ‘I say colored, I have colored friends.’” She concluded that “You have to listen to the college-aged, because

they lead the revolution. They’re pretty much always on the right side of history.”6 And despite any allegedly stifling effects on the comedy, the business of comedy is booming: ticket sales for live comedy events have increased, sketch comedy TV shows are extremely

popular, and comedy podcasts are everywhere.7

6 Anna Silman, “Sarah Silverman pushes back against ‘creepy P.C. culture’ backlash: You have to listen to the college-aged, because they lead the revolution,” Salon, September 15, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/09/15/sarah_silverman_pushes_back_against_creepy_p_c_culture_backlash_you_have_ to_listen_to_the_college_aged_because_they_lead_the_revolution/.

7 Hershal Pandya, “Maybe Political Ccorrectness Isn’t Ruining Comedy,” SplitSider, Feb. 8, 2016, http://splitsider.com/2016/02/maybe-political-correctness-isnt-ruining-comedy/.