Like many leftist nostrums, the doctrine sometimes known as political correctness accomplishes almost exactly the opposite of what it intends. The general P.C. idea is that there is some effective virtue in believing that what is fair is also true. If it seems good to us that all races should be of equal gifts and capabilities or that any disparity in competencies between the sexes is the result of societal influences rather than genetics, well, then we have only to close our lying eyes and think it so, and so it will someday be. Anyone who allows any expression of doubt or disagreement to cross his mind or pass his lips must be shamed into silence—the shame and silence themselves becoming instruments of the social change that will ultimately make the wished-for truth the truth indeed.

Yet rather than make the world less racist or sexist, political correctness only really serves to lend to both racism and sexism a glamour of individualism and honesty. So thrilled are we when P.C.’s tyrannical authority over our consciences is challenged by some direct expression of observation, common sense, or just good old-fashioned prejudice that we are startled into laughter. It’s as delightful as watching a nun sit on a fifth grader’s tack. Thus, I started laughing when I read the title of John Derbyshire’s new book and continued laughing straight through to the end. This in spite of the book’s thesis, which is its title: We Are Doomed.