Psychology of democracy and political correctness (PC): The role of civility and centrism in solving the dilemma between freedom and equality

This article responds to a study by K. Hnilica (2019) and suggests a complementary theory of PC. The aim of PC is balance between the fundamental values of democracy, i.e., freedom and equality. (Incidentally, the conflict between freedom and equality is also the fundamental paradox of democracy, an institutionalized conflict-resolution system, Pax democratica). PC deals with power, as do sexual harassment or bullying. In order to alleviate inequalities, PC tends to limit freedom of speech of socially-dominant citizens. The main tools of PC include pinpointing the majority-minorities disparities, euphemisms, non-discrimination, whistleblowing, along with spurious whistleblowing and censorship. The strongest advocates of PC are leftist liberals, adversaries tend to be right-wing, conservatives and/or xenophobes. Democratizing societies deal with PC in developmental stages: totalitarian societies without PC are at stage 0; at stage 1 PC permeates from progressive enclaves into the media; at stage 2 PC undergoes rigorous scrutiny in the mainstream discourses; most post-communist societies are at this turbulent stage. Finally, at the third stage, PC is either (3a) suppressed and minorities keep on to be publicly insulted, or (3c) PC takes over, causing extensive self-censorship, whistleblowing, half-truths and lies; or (3b), ideally, PC restrained by civility and temperance acts as a civilizing factor, it promotes equality yet at the same time does not censor information, art or humor. Besides law, civility (respect, benevolence) and the virtue of temperance (modesty, avoiding extremes) are indispensable for democracy. In the Czech cultural milieu, with its heritage of Masaryk's humanism, apek's radical centrism, liberalism and humor, the positives of PC may outweigh the negatives. The values of Love and Truth (professed by Vaclav Havel) may also serve as a paradigm for restraining PC: Love (euphemisms, benevolence) must not crush Truth (censorship, disinformation). Finally, everyone is occasionally in minority and PC may serve his/her interests.