Who can be criticized?

The Juan Williams political correctness firing by NPR gives rise to a question that is worth discussing: under liberal orthodoxy who is it that is allowed to be criticized? Let's start with the obvious. It is improper to criticize Muslims; Juan proved that clearly. Second, it is also improper to criticize blacks unless they are conservatives. Remember all the discussion about how the Tea Parties were racist because they criticized Obama (a liberal), but no one cares about all the disparaging of Clarence Thomas after his wife's private phone call to Anita Hill was released by Hill and put into the media. Hispanics are classified like blacks. There seems to be insufficient data to determine if Asians can be criticized. I have not seen much criticism of them nor any response from the liberal groups. So we will put Asians in the unknown category. Within the group of whites, it is a cardinal sin to criticize women if they are liberal. Any criticism of liberal women bring immediate condemnation from NOW and the other self-proclaimed feminist groups, and the media joins right in. Of course, if Jerry Brown calls Meg Whitman a whore, it is ok because she is conservative. Under liberal orthodoxy Sarah Palin can be called any name that one can thing of. Gays are also protected by liberal orthodoxy. So are atheists and transgenders.

So that leaves the targets. Religious Christians and Jews are prime targets. They are intolerant, bigoted, homophobic, racist etc. Conservative white men are even worse. And let's not forget that American conservative men are the equivalent of the devil -- if the liberals believed in the devil. Just today in the NY Times, Ari Berman wrote an Op-Ed piece in which he said, "Conservative Democrats have opposed key elements of the president’s agenda, while liberal Democrats have howled that their majority is being hijacked by a rogue group of predominantly white men from small rural states." That's right, conservative white men and hicks no less have blocked Obama's agenda.

I wonder if there ever was a time when the liberals believed that they were actually protecting these groups by shielding them from criticism? I doubt it. American society long ago moved past the point when criticism of people in these protected groups was based upon bigotry, sexism, racism or the like. Now, it is based upon reality, but the liberals are so caught up in their ideology that they cannot see reality.

Here's an example. Many inner city schools are failing. The students in these schools, mostly black and Hispanic perform at much lower levels than their counterparts in other districts. Nevertheless, a message to these students that called upon them to use their own strengths to improve would be an outrage to most liberals. After all, it would imply that the fault for the poor performance of these students actually lay with those very students rather than with society. Asking for self reliance from the students would tell them that they had failed thus far, and it would lower their self esteem. No, liberals want to baby these kids and leave them dependent for their whole lives on the state.