Abigail Esman is a writer who has written often about the horrors of female genital mutilation (FGM). Recently she wrote an article in which she called FGM “barbaric” – and Amnesty International wrote her, saying (in part):
We try not to use this word. The use of the word ‘barbaric’ suggests that the people who do this are less than human, which isn’t so because they are being led by social pressure which is what needs to be fought. So we avoid using this word to not judge the people.
Ms. Esman doesn't think that's a good idea. Her conclusion:
These are the times I worry that we stand upon a precipice, and fear for the ideas and the ideals that form the fundament of civilization and democracy. We censor words and language, as Howard says, bending our knee to the tyranny of political correctness, concerning ourselves more with the sensitivities of the perpetrators than the lives and safety of the victims.
It was another British Home Secretary, Mike O’Brien, who famously said in 1999, “multicultural sensitivity is no excuse for moral blindness.” They are words we would still do well to heed.
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