At UCLA, If You're Speaking, You're Probably Microaggressing Somebody
Brendan O'Neill writes at reason of new college speech rules that "chastise students who refuse to think racially, who balk at the idea that they should always be actively mindful of their own and everyone else's racial makeup":
UCLA says "Color Blindness," the idea we shouldn't obsess over people's race, is a microaggression. If you refuse to treat an individual as a "racial/cultural being," then you're being aggressive. This is a profound perversion of what has been considered the reasoned, liberal approach for decades--that treating people as "racial/cultural beings" is wrong and dehumanizing.UCLA offers the following examples as "color blind" utterances that count as microaggressions:
"When I look at you, I don't see color."
"There is only one race: the human race."
"I don't believe in race."
Apparently such comments deny individuals' "racial and ethnic experience." But on a campus like UCLA a few decades ago, refusing to treat individuals as "cultural beings" would have been the right and good thing. Now, in an eye-swivelling reversal, the polar opposite is the case: to demonstrate your politically correct virtue you must acknowledge the skin color of everyone you meet.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point similarly advises that color blindness is a racial microaggression. It lists "America is a melting pot" as an aggressive phrase. It brands as problematic any comment by a white person that suggests he or she "does not want to acknowledge race." Anyone who claims to be "immune to races"--that is, who prefers not to think about people as racial beings--is viewed as aggressive.
At the University of Missouri, the guide to "inclusive terminology" lists color-blindness as a form of prejudice, even as it recognizes that this term "originated from civil-rights legislation." Once, color-blindness was considered cool, but now we know it can be "disempowering for people whose racial identity is an important part of who they are," says the school.
This is the best (as in, the craziest) -- the idea that...
...Even static objects can commit acts of violence against students: one university bemoans "environmental microaggressions," which can include a college in which all the buildings are "named after white heterosexual upper class males." What these codes add up to is a demand that everyone be permanently on edge, constantly reevaluating their every thought before uttering it. It's an invitation to social paralysis.
Academia is as much a cult as any church.
Kevin at August 5, 2015 10:18 PM
Yep, and in future we can expect a whole 'nother class of "nano-aggressions", e.g. making eye contact for 1 second too long, accidentally touching while passing someone in corridor, wrong tone of voice when asking a question, visibly thinking "sexist" or "rapist" or "harassing" thoughts... FFS.
Richard Jowsey at August 5, 2015 10:44 PM
Too many rats in the box.
They don't have anything to do but chew on each other.
What do you bet that these transgressions are invented by "diversity" department heads who have to justify their salaries?
Radwaste at August 6, 2015 2:19 AM
Some firsts to look forward to:
Which will be the first school to require all incoming students to have a full DNA and psychological evaluation so they can be labeled with proper care instructions listing their genetic heritage, sexual leanings, and psychological triggers. Maybe some sort of name badges with special colors and shapes can be used to clearly identify people.
Which will be the first school to ban certain denominations of currency because of the microagression of being handed a coin or bill with the face of a slave-owner on it. If you are of Japanese descent, perhaps being handed a dime with FDR's picture could be microagressive.
Dwatney at August 6, 2015 4:37 AM
"I recognize your "blackness" as a unique culture."
"I accept that your "people" have been mistreated since time began."
"Your cultural music has been appropriated unjustly and "we" have never properly acknowledged that."
"At the end of the day a pig is just a pig."
That was not hard was it.
Bob in Texas at August 6, 2015 5:26 AM
Bob, surely you recognize that some pigs are more equal than others?
Of course, you could just quote MLK Jr:
I R A Darth Aggie at August 6, 2015 6:31 AM
Four legs good! Two legs better! One tool in the dictator's back of tricks is to keep the laws, standards, and mores constantly in flux. This way, you turn people against each other, and keep everyone fearful and afraid to act.
We need to just start putting up walls around the liberal-arts universities. Keep them in, keep everyone else out. Keep them from polluting the mental environment around them.
Cousin Dave at August 6, 2015 7:35 AM
Tsk IRA, only Al or Jesse can quote MLK, Jr. 'cause anyone else is 'microaggressing'.
Bob in Texas at August 6, 2015 7:36 AM
Wow, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Makes me wanna stay home and avoid other people, just keep my privileged white male self out of harm's way.
bkmale at August 6, 2015 8:04 AM
Cousin Dave, exactly. Make everything a crime, then use discretion to punish your enemies.
These universities are teaching Totalitarianism 101.
Andrew_M_Garland at August 6, 2015 8:51 AM
When so many people are mixed race/origin, how can you react "appropriately"? For example, is this brownish person actually Hispanic and had nothing to do with US slavery? Quite likely. How about the person on the phone with the Spanish surname--what if he just moved here from Spain? He certainly didn't cross the Rio Grande. Or the people who are only 1/4 black and want to be considered white? Or people with white/Asian mix--how would you be able to tell? There are blond people from Iran--how should you treat them? Should we stop and fill out mutual surveys before we speak to anyone?
I remember when working at Argonne, a Chinese man from Hong Kong who spoke with a perfect british accent and acted totally like an eccentric british scientist, complete with riding a bicycle down the hall, socks with sandals, and mannerisms. What was he?
I passed two postdocs one day in the hall. The white one was saying to the black one: "won't that experiment keep you up all night?" and the black one replied: "no problem, I'm German!"
It is clearly all about stirring up hatred.
Craig at August 6, 2015 9:31 AM
The new National Anthem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EBw_da7BZk
David H at August 6, 2015 12:07 PM
I once encountered a very black man with a Cockney accent - in Massachusetts.
lenona at August 8, 2015 9:41 AM
It's probably not good that lately all the rules and boundaries that we have to live by are being made by the complaints of the craziest people.
Alan at August 9, 2015 7:30 PM
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