Maureen Dowd accused of ‘ethnic empathy’ for writing about fellow Irish American

Having an appreciation for someone from your own culture is now un PC? Are you serious? I do not see the connection at all!

ethnic empathy is a bad thing? I'm so sick of hearing about PC crap I could vomit. Rory looks like a lot of my family. So sue me for caring that this bright young boy lost his future. And an editor in LALA land thinks he is right. Give me a break.

Nice article Tom. Some posters just have to be mean spirited and downright rude.

Maureen Dowd wrote a beautiful piece about the tragic death of a young boy, all the more heart-breaking because it did not have to happen. The writer and the subject, both Irish American and both deeply attached to the land of their parents - a little ethnic empathy here? Yes, and why the hell not! It was appropriate and infinitely understandable. Her words reached out and touched all who read them - but especially we Irish to whom tragedy has so often visited down through the centuries. Politically incorrect? I am sick of hearing what is politically correct and incorrect. McGough showed himself to be small and mean - and remarkably stupid and out of touch with that which makes us human. What a sorry world it would be if all we wanted was, in the immortal words of Sgt. Friday, "Just the facts Ma'am."

Mr. Michael McGough: puhLEEZE...!!! Your narcissistic fixation on your own brilliant PC truthteller instinct is just foul drivel and puke. (Thought you needed a bit of a reality check, mate...)

How far does a writer have to go into "Ah, top o'the marnin', be jesus" before (s)he will be found to be offensive? One would hope a story about a young man of, say, Italian descent would not say something to the effect of, "Rodrico Stantoni, who, despite the name, was no 'guido'..." One wonders what the young Mr Staunton's ethnicity had to do with the tragedy that struck his family; in vain do I struggle, as it was a waste of a young life, regardless of who his parents were and where from. Of course, for a journal that records the comings and goings of Irish immigrants, it would be natural to do such a story, and I do not for a momemt object to a sidebar story about the Stauntons as a successful Irish couple and how misfortune happens to all of us, however blest we have otherwise been in our lives. I do not understand why a columnist in the MSM needs to invoke the shamrock-and-shillelagh even though, just as with Blacks and the n-word, "I'm a member of the group so I can get away with it."

Scrivner, Same old stale, boring liberal VS conservative, conservative VS liberal crap all over again? Give me a break! He's just a kid after all regardless of his ethnic background and I have a lot more sympathy for a young kid dying than I do for healthy adults squabbling over politics.

The term "political correctness" needs to be stricken from the lexicon because it has been used so broadly as to be almost meaningless. I think Mr. McGough's retort is bromidic, trivial, i.e., of little worth or importance, thus should be given the consideration it deserves -- none.

McGough who!! I suppose he got his name in print.

Folks don't you get it? McGough was turning the tables on uber lib Dowd! Maureen regularly rants on political incorrectness of others, now he skewed her with the made-up charge of "ethnic empathy." Very clever McGough.

I found the Maureen Dowd story empathetic & touching about a young man taken way before his time,full stop.Where does the political correctness brigade gone mad draw the line or take a day off.If it was a young girl that died tragically would that be too much female empathy on Dowd's part?I dont live in L.A but i can only imagine what type of rag prints such garbage,with that McWhatever clown running the circus.For example should Italian-Americans not write about Italians for fear we Irish take offense,i hope that statement comes across as stupid as it sounds,just like the nonsensical editorial.

"Ethnic Empathy". Oh, brother. Maybe it's Valentine"s Day.

I'm sorry, but ethnic empathy is something that is extremely positive. It is something that is sorely lacking in Irish culture and that we need more of. Good on Ms Dowd.

mc dick,what an idiot,this lady was moved by the death of a nice young kid,i wouldn't mind betting she would have written just as movingly and eloquently if it had been a little Chinese or black boy of her acquaintance,this PC crap kills common sense.unbelievable carping by an idiot.

YAWN!