Last Friday, I wrote a Corner post on cat-calling. I wrote, in part:

Two things can be taken from this story, even if it’s not true that the phrase was born on 23rd Street. First, men have been pigs for a very long time (would that I were more of a classicist and could conjure a similar story about stiff Mediterranean breezes and togas). Second, we used to live in a country where even New York police considered such behavior worthy of, well, policing. Those days are gone, and on the whole that’s a good thing. But it doesn’t change the fact that men are often pigs.

A colleague of mine took grave exception to the highlighted part above. Have I gone over to the Randians, he asked. My short answer is no. My slightly longer answer, or rather my explanation, depends on the meaning of “on the whole.” I certainly think cops can and should ask ruffians who congregate to harass women to beat it. I also think that we lost many good things since the days when this was a less controversial proposition. But I also think it’s a “good thing” we no longer treat women as hothouse flowers in need of protection from morals police. I wasn’t trying to re-litigate a century’s worth of social progress and/or social change (progress implies improvement, change — contrary to much of today’s political rhetoric — simply implies, well, change).

I think one of the great drivers of so much political correctness these days is an attempt to craft modern morals on the Left’s terms. The problem is that the Left’s principles are very poorly articulated (just try to get someone to explain in dry, clear and honest terms what “social justice” means) and they are often at odds with one another. To do something serious about cat-calling would require the Left to become scolds of fellow members of the coalition of the oppressed and pick fights where the terrain is challenging. They would much rather continue lecturing Pajama Boys and other denizens and products of elite campuses about microaggressions. Charlie explored this point in greater detail here.