Sara Palin and the crybaby conservatives

In his 2005 article "The New PC: Crybaby Conservatives" in The Nation magazine, Russell Jacoby describes how conservatives are constantly whining about liberal bias in college classrooms. He describes attempts to bully professors on college campuses across the country to remove liberal perspectives and increase conservative perspectives. As Jacoby points out, conservatives "are at least as prickly as any other group when it comes to perceived slights. After years of decrying the 'political correctness police,' thin-skinned conservatives have joined in; they want their own ideological wardens to enforce intellectual conformity." But since the 2005 article, conservatives have become increasingly thinned skin whenever criticized or satirized, as demonstrated by Sara Palin's recent reactions to Dave Letterman and the Family Guy.

Keep in mind, conservatives have attacked political correctness for decades, claiming that political correctness has left us vulnerable to terrorists acts, proliferated welfare, ruined our education system, among other vast claims. Of course, the rants against political correctness by conservatives haven't faded. They continue alongside the whining that David Letterman, college professors, and comedy shows are not sufficiently considering the feelings of conservatives before speaking (a.k.a. political correctness). But at some point, someone has to point out that you can't have it both ways.

I've been inclined toward political correctness for a couple of decades. I like comedy, but there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. I love Sara Silverman, but some of her jokes definitely make me cringe. And I didn't particularly like the Family Guy's spoof on Trig Palin (though it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected based on the coverage). But in not liking the Family Guy's spoof, I'm being consistent with my own standards that I've followed for at least 20 years. Conservatives, on the other hand, constantly flip back and forth, depending upon what they find advantageous. If you speak out against the Family Guy, you sure as hell better have also spoken out repeatedly against Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, who's hateful and bigoted rants (that have gone on for years) make the Family Guy (which is doing a comic spoof) look like Barney.

Unfortunately though there's really nothing new here. It's just one more example of conservative hypocrisy, which has become so anticipated that the media doesn't even recognize it any more. As a result, they repeat Palin's rants repeatedly and never put them into perspective.