A Washington Post story quoted Donald Trump as saying his proposal to ban all Muslim immigrants from entering the country was "probably politically incorrect." The term "politically correct" is often used as a "put-down, a way to brush off the offended person as being overly sensitive," writes Colby Itkowitz, lead anchor of the Post's Inspired Life blog. "So while Trump is asserting his right to free speech, he is at the same time calling into question the listener’s right to complain about what he’s saying."

TC's Derald Wing Sue, professor of psychology and education and an expert on racial and ethnic micro-aggressions, pronounced Trump guilty of “verbal jiu-jitsu.... When you say, ‘I have no time to be politically correct’ what you are doing is turning the tables on the person raising a legitimate issue. You detract away from the issue that is being presented. You make the person the problem.”

Sue's latest book is "Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race" (John Wiley & Sons, 2015).

LINK: Donald Trump says we’re all too politically correct. But is that also a way to limit speech?

Published Friday, Dec 11, 2015