Sunstein's Sophistry

"That's right. Brantley is Whitfield; Whitfield is Brantley."
--Brantley Foster (The Secret of My Success)

If you're proponent of political correctness, then you need to counter criticisms of PC to keep the herd in line. Enter Cass Sunstein, propagandist-in-chief of the Obama administration. Using a recent paper grounded in signaling theory as a backdrop to provide an air of legitimacy, Sunstein argues that political incorrectness is actually politically correct when viewed in certain circles.

Thus, Republicans who take politically incorrect positions with respect to Democratic policies and ideologies are doing so in order to be popular (i.e., politically correct) with prospective voters.

This is classic propagandist strategy. Take a term and, using some type of expert support, try to reverse or obscure its meaning. Those in the herd, observing that the argument seems to have the backing of experts, slurps it down without thinking it through.

Work oriented toward truth begins by defining key terms and explaining why those definitions are valid. Notice that Sunstein offers no definition of political correctness at the outset. That's because he wants to roll his own. Bernaysian propagandists know that they must control meaning rather than cede it to outsiders.

Individuals seeking to hone their critical thinking skills should have little trouble dismantling Sunstein's sophistry.