Defining Correctness

Letter writer David Moss (Aug. 12) ought to know that indeed “(Sam) Kinison and Andrew Dice Clay--as well as rock or rap groups such as Guns N’ Roses and Public Enemy and their record company backers--all feel they have the God-given right to say any damned thing they want to about anyone” because, in this country, they do.

Too many times in America’s history, this right was abrogated because whoever was speaking wasn’t politically correct enough for whoever was defining political correctness at the time.

Moss denounces censorship and hides his call for political correctness behind the megaterm “sensitivity/self-restraint/responsi-bility.” Again, meanings vary with whoever’s doing the defining. In the ‘60s, I called peaceful anti-war marches sensitive and responsible; Richard Nixon called them barbarous and treasonous.

I’m not as good with quotes as Moss, so I don’t recall who said “censorship is an opinion backed by an organization,” but it’s one quote we should all remember.

STEVEN GRANT

Encino