什么是政治正确，它是有助于加强公共道德还是一种审查的力量?这些问题是约翰和肯与前政治演讲撰稿人、美利坚大学传播学教授伦纳德·施泰因霍恩讨论的核心。肯和约翰从语言哲学的角度讨论了政治正确。他们讨论了政治正确的内涵和外延，解释说政治正确可以表示冒犯和消极的言论，同时也意味着胆怯和被嘲笑。Ken and John take a stab at defining political correctness as a way of making certain thoughts unfashionable to express or, alternatively, as a way to refer to people and their traits so they are not offended.
Guest Leonard Steinhorn joins the conversation and describes the history of political correctness in America. In his book The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boomer Legacy, Steinhorn outlines how the strict private morality of the 1950’s gave way to the personal freedoms of the Baby Boomer era. Public morality was held to greater scrutiny; hence norms governing public speech, or political correctness, became important in regulating behavior. Ken asks about the distinction between morality and holding fashionable, socially acceptable attitudes. Steinhorn’s view of political correctness suggests that if one cannot express a homophobic thought, for instance, one cannot think a homophobic thought. Leonard says that if you shun bigotry and make it socially unacceptable, this allows for more opportunities for others to move in the mainstream. Thus, political correctness operates as a way of setting societal norms.
Callers join the conversation and offer opposing attitudes, calling political correctness a form of thought control and censorship and a phrase frequently used to cut off intelligent discourse. Echoing the callers’ concerns, Ken challenges Leonard, asking whether the reality behind the language has changed. He argues that political correctness prevents the public expression of negative attitudes, signaling an apparent victory when, in fact, attitudes and behavior remain not only unchanged but more difficult to combat. As a caller, remarks, racism might be driven underground by politically correct language, but not out of existence.
- Roving Philosophical Report(寻找5点39分):佐伊·科内利(Zoe Corneli)采访了旧金山艺术学院(Academy of Art)的学生，讨论今天的政治正确，询问恰当语言和不当语言之间的区别何时成为审查制度。
- 60-Second Philosopher(Seek to 50:04): Ian Shoales describes how the Cultural Marxism movement based out of the Frankfurt School at Columbia University in the 1930’s spawned the contemporary political correctness catechism.
