Let’s try emotional correctness
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0:01 - 0:04So when I do my job, people hate me.
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0:05 - 0:07In fact, the better I do my job,
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0:07 - 0:09the more people hate me.
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0:09 - 0:11And no, I'm not a meter maid,
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0:11 - 0:13and I'm not an undertaker.
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0:13 - 0:17I am a progressive, lesbian
talking head on Fox News. -
0:17 - 0:19(Applause)
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0:19 - 0:22So y'all heard that, right?
Just to make sure, right? -
0:22 - 0:25I am a gay talking head on Fox News.
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0:25 - 0:27I am going to tell you how I do it,
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0:27 - 0:29and the most important thing I've learned.
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0:29 - 0:30So I go on television.
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0:31 - 0:35I debate people who literally want
to obliterate everything I believe in -- -
0:35 - 0:39in some cases, who don't want
me and people like me to even exist. -
0:39 - 0:42It's sort of like Thanksgiving
with your conservative uncle -
0:42 - 0:43on steroids,
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0:44 - 0:47with a live television
audience of millions. -
0:47 - 0:49It's totally almost just like that.
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0:49 - 0:51And that's just on air.
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0:51 - 0:54The hate mail I get is unbelievable.
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0:54 - 0:59Last week alone, I got 238
pieces of nasty email -
0:59 - 1:02and more hate tweets
than I can even count. -
1:02 - 1:05I was called an idiot,
a traitor, a scourge, -
1:05 - 1:08a cunt and an ugly man,
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1:08 - 1:09and that was just in one email.
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1:09 - 1:12(Laughter)
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1:12 - 1:15So what have I realized,
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1:15 - 1:18being on the receiving end
of all this ugliness? -
1:18 - 1:19Well, my biggest takeaway
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1:19 - 1:23is that for decades, we've been focused
on political correctness, -
1:24 - 1:27but what matters more
is emotional correctness. -
1:28 - 1:30Let me give you a small example.
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1:30 - 1:33I don't care if you call me a dyke.
I really don't. -
1:33 - 1:34I care about two things.
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1:34 - 1:37One, I care that you spell it right.
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1:37 - 1:42(Laughter) (Applause)
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1:42 - 1:45Just quick refresher, it's D-Y-K-E.
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1:45 - 1:48You'd totally be surprised.
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1:48 - 1:51And second, I don't care about the word,
I care about how you use it. -
1:52 - 1:54Are you being friendly?
Are you just being naive? -
1:54 - 1:57Or do you really want
to hurt me personally? -
1:58 - 2:02Emotional correctness
is the tone, the feeling, -
2:02 - 2:04how we say what we say,
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2:04 - 2:07the respect and compassion
we show one another. -
2:08 - 2:10And what I've realized
is that political persuasion -
2:10 - 2:14doesn't begin with ideas or facts or data.
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2:14 - 2:18Political persuasion begins
with being emotionally correct. -
2:19 - 2:21So when I first went
to go work at Fox News, -
2:21 - 2:22true confession,
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2:23 - 2:25I expected there to be marks in the carpet
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2:25 - 2:27from all the knuckle-dragging.
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2:28 - 2:32That, by the way, in case you're paying
attention, is not emotionally correct. -
2:32 - 2:35But liberals on my side,
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2:35 - 2:39we can be self-righteous,
we can be condescending, -
2:39 - 2:41we can be dismissive of anyone
who doesn't agree with us. -
2:41 - 2:44In other words, we can
be politically right -
2:44 - 2:46but emotionally wrong.
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2:47 - 2:52And incidentally, that means that
people don't like us. Right? -
2:53 - 2:54Now here's the kicker.
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2:55 - 2:57Conservatives are really nice.
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2:58 - 2:59I mean, not all of them,
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2:59 - 3:01and not the ones who send me hate mail,
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3:01 - 3:02but you would be surprised.
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3:03 - 3:06Sean Hannity is one of
the sweetest guys I've ever met. -
3:07 - 3:11He spends his free time
trying to fix up his staff on blind dates, -
3:11 - 3:13and I know that if I ever had a problem,
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3:13 - 3:15he would do anything he could to help.
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3:16 - 3:21Now, I think Sean Hannity
is 99 percent politically wrong, -
3:21 - 3:24but his emotional correctness
is strikingly impressive. -
3:24 - 3:26And that's why people listen to him.
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3:26 - 3:29Because you can't get
anyone to agree with you -
3:29 - 3:31if they don't even listen to you first.
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3:32 - 3:35We spend so much time
talking past each other -
3:35 - 3:38and not enough time talking
through our disagreements. -
3:38 - 3:41And if we can start to find
compassion for one another, -
3:42 - 3:44then we have a shot
at building common ground. -
3:46 - 3:49It actually sounds really hokey
to say it standing up here, -
3:49 - 3:51but when you try to put it in practice,
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3:51 - 3:53it's really powerful.
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3:53 - 3:56So someone who says they hate immigrants,
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3:56 - 3:59I try to imagine how scared they must be
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3:59 - 4:02that their community is changing
from what they've always known. -
4:02 - 4:05Or someone who says they
don't like teachers' unions, -
4:05 - 4:09I bet they're really devastated to see
their kid's school going into the gutter, -
4:09 - 4:11and they're just looking
for someone to blame. -
4:12 - 4:16Our challenge is to find
the compassion for others -
4:16 - 4:18that we want them to have for us.
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4:19 - 4:21That is emotional correctness.
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4:22 - 4:23I'm not saying it's easy.
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4:23 - 4:26An average of, like, 5.6 times per day
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4:26 - 4:29I have to stop myself from responding
to all of my hate mail -
4:29 - 4:31with a flurry of vile profanities.
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4:32 - 4:38This whole finding compassion
and common ground with your enemies thing -
4:38 - 4:41is kind of like a political-spiritual
practice for me, -
4:42 - 4:44and I ain't the Dalai Lama.
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4:45 - 4:49I'm not perfect,
but what I am is optimistic. -
4:50 - 4:52Because I don't just get hate mail.
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4:53 - 4:55I get a lot of really nice
letters, lots of them. -
4:56 - 4:58And one of my all-time favorites begins:
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4:59 - 5:01"I am not a big fan
of your political leanings -
5:01 - 5:03or your sometimes tortured logic,
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5:04 - 5:06(Laughter)
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5:07 - 5:09but I'm a big fan of you as a person."
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5:11 - 5:13Now this guy doesn't
agree with me -- yet. -
5:14 - 5:17(Laughter)
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5:17 - 5:19But he's listening --
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5:20 - 5:23not because of what I said,
but because of how I said it. -
5:23 - 5:27And somehow, even though we've never met,
we've managed to form a connection. -
5:27 - 5:29That's emotional correctness,
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5:29 - 5:32and that's how we start the conversations
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5:32 - 5:34that really lead to change.
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5:34 - 5:35Thank you.
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5:35 - 5:40(Applause)
- Title:
- Let’s try emotional correctness
- Speaker:
- Sally Kohn
- Description:
-
It's time for liberals and conservatives to transcend their political differences and really listen to each other, says political pundit Sally Kohn. In this optimistic talk, Kohn shares what she learned as a progressive lesbian talking head on Fox News. It’s not about political correctness, she says, but rather, emotional correctness.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:59
Brian Greene commented on English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness | ||
Madeleine Aronson edited English subtitles for Let’s try emotional correctness |
Brian Greene
The English transcript was updated on 3/30/2017.