Hey, Coddled College Students, Get Ready To Be Offended -- Because We Have The Right To Offend, And That's A Beautiful Thing
At Townhall.com, UNC-Wilmington criminology prof Mike Adams posted the text from a talk he gave to his incoming students:
Let's get something straight right now. You have no right to be unoffended. You have a right to be offended with regularity. It is the price you pay for living in a free society. If you don't understand that you are confused and dangerously so. In part, I blame your high school teachers for failing to teach you basic civics before you got your diploma. Most of you went to the public high schools, which are a disaster. Don't tell me that offended you. I went to a public high school.Of course, your high school might not be the problem. It is entirely possible that the main reason why so many of you are confused about free speech is that piece of paper hanging on the wall right over there. Please turn your attention to that ridiculous document that is framed and hanging by the door. In fact, take a few minutes to read it before you leave class today. It is our campus speech code. It specifically says that there is a requirement that everyone must only engage in discourse that is "respectful." That assertion is as ludicrous as it is illegal. I plan to have that thing ripped down from every classroom on campus before I retire.
Moving on over to Yale, Blake Neff writes at The Daily Caller:
Yale University has been hit by controversy in the past week after professor Erika Christakis, associate headmaster of the school's Silliman College, sent an email to the college's members suggesting that they shouldn't be overly sensitive about Halloween costumes that engage in "cultural appropriation." Instead, Christakis encouraged students to tolerate them and avoid trying to censor expression."Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious ... a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?" Christakis wrote. "American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition."
In response, Christakis and her husband Nicholas (Silliman's headmaster) have been besieged by calls for their resignation by students who say they have made Yale a dangerous place for black students.
On this video, a student screams hysterically at Nicholas Christakis for creating an "unsafe space" at Yale:
Some of what the student screams:
"You should step down! If that is what you think of being headmaster, you should step down! It is not about creating an intellectual space! It is not!"
There are "safe spaces," and they are not institutions of "higher learning."
The notion that college was supposed to be a sort of giant padded crib with beer -- this has never been the case until now.
America...we are pretty much fucked.
Bring back the draft. Now.
Can you imagine the depths of the shiteous parenting that would bring forth such an attitude?
Kevin at November 6, 2015 11:55 PM
Certainly agree with you that far too many "students" (more like petulant children) are demanding "padded cribs with beer". But I'm kind of encouraged by the degree of push-back.
As for "pretty much fucked", I think you're probably familiar with the "edge of chaos" concept and state which is, arguably, sort of optimal for democracy. And which kind of characterizes some of the best aspects of America. But it does kind of necessitate an "eternal vigilance" lest the barbarians ride roughshod over some important principles.
Steersman at November 7, 2015 12:36 AM
In most places an adult screaming like that eventually gets carted away (cue music - "They're coming to take me away!")
Bob in Texas at November 7, 2015 5:37 AM
And when they don't get their way they scream and swear which also creates an "unsafe space."
I guess they didn't learn irony either.
charles at November 7, 2015 5:40 AM
Wow! This makes me fearful for the future of the country.
What? People don't drive to work in pirates?
Beej at November 7, 2015 6:50 AM
Well, I see somebody now has a basis for her eventual dissertation on race and oppression in Ivy League schools. It won't be God and Man at Yale, but then, it's doesn't have to be; shrill and full of hate filled will do. I am sure she will make a fine employee at some lower tier university someday.
Sheep mom at November 7, 2015 8:23 AM
Stupid bitch is a bully. Where does she get off thinking that college is to provide a "home"? It's supposed to provide you with a place to sleep and study. A room with a lockable door, a bed and a desk. If you get that at a college, they've fulfilled adequately their end. A student library is also nice to have. The rest is up to you. It's a nice thing if you have lounges and a place to kick back once in a while, but your tuition does not entitle you to it.
Patrick at November 7, 2015 8:36 AM
Yes, people have a right to free speech. An absolute rule restricting speech? Bad.
At the same time; being respectful? Last I checked that is a GOOD thing. People have the absolute right to express unpopular opinions and as a rule censorship should be minimal or nonexistent. But trying to be respectful and not offending people if you can avoid it SHOULD be a good thing.
People saying "our country is fucked because of this" though... this article only cites examples from two universities. There are a few more than just TWO universities in our whole country. You might want a bit more information before you start declaring this a national crisis.
Max at November 7, 2015 9:41 AM
Thanks, Max. Why can't people remember the difference? Just because something's legal doesn't always make it civilized. Take a kid who breaks the rules at a kids' ball game, for example. Or another kid who uses four-letter words to scold the first kid.
As Miss Manners said years ago in an op-ed:
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/20/opinion/dialogue-speech-on-campus-say-the-right-thing-or-else-attack-ideas-not-people.html
"Say the Right Thing - or Else; Attack Ideas, Not People"
Excerpt:
"... The law cannot restrict such speech without violating our constitutional rights. But etiquette, the extra-legal regulative system that seeks to avert conflict before it becomes serious enough to call in the law, can and does. You may have a legal right to call your mother an idiot, or somebody else's mother a slut, but you won't if you know what's good for you.
"Nor could you convince many people that the controversy that such remarks are likely to provoke will lead to advances in knowledge..."
lenona at November 7, 2015 10:30 AM
I'd have knocked her on her ass. There's your "safe space" you little hothouse flower.
Steve Daniels at November 7, 2015 11:12 AM
This is the temper tantrum of a toddler. She doesn't let the headmaster even get a word in edgewise. And she insists her argument and only her argument is right.
Conan the Grammarian at November 7, 2015 11:25 AM
Oh, and the person who filmed it in portrait mode needs to be slapped, hard.
Conan the Grammarian at November 7, 2015 11:26 AM
Hey, Max, try doing a little more research on your own. This blog, including the reader contributed Daily Links entry are replete with examples of special snowflakes demanding safe spaces, and demanding invitations to speakers be rescinded because of whom the speakers are.
This shit happening all over the country. ALL. OVER. THE. COUNTRY.
Or check out the FIRE cases web site. Or check out this season of South Park.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 7, 2015 12:16 PM
Also, as a reminder, these people think that if you don't share their views, not only are you wrong, and guilty of BadThink, but you are also evil.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 7, 2015 12:19 PM
This blog, including the reader contributed Daily Links entry are replete with examples of special snowflakes demanding safe spaces, and demanding invitations to speakers be rescinded because of whom the speakers are.
When can we admit that parents aren't holding up their end of the social contract these days?
Kevin at November 7, 2015 1:31 PM
You might want a bit more information before you start declaring this a national crisis.
Max, you might want to do a little more reading before you start deciding I don't have enough information.
I do as much as I can to support theFIRE.org, which defends free speech rights on campus. I threw them a party in LA to get them known to journalists and sold my three children into slavery (just kidding on that part) to get Larry Miller to perform there. I blog at least several times a week on free speech violations.
And I am an activist for free speech rights. On the last case I was involved in -- generously defended by free speech warrior, lawyer Marc J. Randazza -- I was civilly disobedient at the airport. When Thedala Magee, the TSA worker who violated my Fourth Amendment rights also went after my First Amendment rights, Randazza and his associates leapt into action, using the principle of "rhetorical hyperbole" as a key part of the defense.
When's the last time you stood up for free speech or investigated the constant violations of it FIRE is fighting on campuses?
Amy Alkon at November 7, 2015 2:11 PM
"When can we admit that parents aren't holding up their end of the social contract these days?"
That is a really bad solution Kevin. What do you think will happen when you take kids away from their parents and send them to their new government approved trainers? You will just end up with more of these special snow flakes. The real solution is to isolate and marginalize these people so they no longer affect you.
Ben at November 7, 2015 2:21 PM
To be clear - this young woman became hysterical because this gentleman told her that his wife had a free speech right to send an email stating that it is acceptable to allow people to wear costumes representing characters from other cultures.
That's why she believes that he is 'disgusting' and wants both him and his wife fired.
She claims that she is not 'safe' at Yale if 'culturally appropriated' Halloween costumes are allowed to be worn.
This seems like a good example of the phenomenon that Greg Lukianoff has described, whereby students are made mentally ill by being indoctrinated to think of themselves as victims.
nerd at November 7, 2015 3:39 PM
How will the snowflakes react when they apply for a job, and are told they don't qualify because the employer is offended by the content of their Facebook page? The hiring manager says that the Facebook page make him/her feel unsafe?
Andrew_M_Garland at November 7, 2015 9:34 PM
"How will the snowflakes react when they apply for a job,..."
The better question is how will you react when they all get jobs in government?
dee nile at November 8, 2015 4:42 AM
Hilarious....
That's what I've gotten when trying to pull up the original article at the Yale Herald for the last 2 days at least.
Either they're basically hiding... they were completely overloaded. Or they don't have competent admins.
Miguelitosd at November 9, 2015 6:26 PM
To play devil's advocate:
It just occurred to me, when the student yelled:
"It is not about creating an intellectual space! It is not!" -
- maybe the student was saying "you're not REALLY interested in intellectualism! That's just a smokescreen!"
After all, how many debates do we have these days over things that really SHOULDN'T be debated (but used to be), such as whether the outcome of 1967's "Loving vs. Virginia" was morally valid?
Just a thought.
lenona at November 10, 2015 8:45 AM
To clarify: I should have said "morally right."
lenona at November 10, 2015 10:36 AM
Lenona,
She followed that up with what she thought it should be 'a home'. If you think the job of a university headmaster (whatever that is) "is not about creating an intellectual space!" but instead "It's about creating a home!" you are woefully confused and in the wrong place.
Ben at November 12, 2015 5:09 AM
Well, excuuuuuse me - I just didn't see/hear that part.
No, of course I don't think that a university should provide a "home" rather than an intellectual space.
lenona at November 12, 2015 11:09 AM
You are excused?
I just wanted to give you the next line. She had a rather odd rant. Going off about how college is about making a home and not about intellectual stuff implies she needs to read a dictionary.
Ben at November 12, 2015 1:43 PM
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