Geoffrey Embling

Peddlers of Error - A Story of Political Correctness, Liberalism and Rights Geoffrey Embling

Peddlers of Error - A Story of Political Correctness, Liberalism and Rights provides a brief history of political correctness, along with various definitions of it, ranging from it being a benign attempt to prevent offense and discrimination, to stronger views associating it with utilitarianism and collectivism. The book focuses on the moral foundations that political correctness draws on, where it fits into the broad political spectrum, what wider implications it has for society, and what sort of justice it produces. A history of liberal rights is introduced in order to set a framework to determine what authority people and governments have to censor others' expression. Different philosophical views on the limits of free speech are discussed, and arguments for and against hate speech are analysed and related to political correctness. Political correctness on university campuses is covered, along with anti-discrimination legislation and campus speech codes. In addition, the 2015 and 2016 South African university protests involving white privilege, university fees and sexual offense are explored and related to political correctness. South Africa's unique brand of political correctness is studied, along with Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), affirmative action, colonialism and white guilt. Peddlers of Error examines the role of political correctness in censoring humour, focusing in particular on the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad which ultimately led to the terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo media offices in Paris. The psychology behind intolerance is discussed, as well as the conflict between truth and tolerance, which is central to the political correctness or "PC" debate. An argument is made, largely by means of examples, that political correctness is not merely socially enforced (through exclusion, strange looks, etc.) but that it has become legally enforced through speech codes, revised harassment legislation and hate speech laws. This is essentially where political correctness gets its "teeth" from - the power to censor, name, shame and punish. Political correctness is identified as being a distinct form of corrective justice which has developed in modern democracies - a new strain of justice which deviates from the social contract and from traditional liberal values.