"The Spiral Of Silence" On Campuses Across America
Rajshree Agarwal, a professor, writes in the WaPo about how the university environment of "trigger warnings" and "microaggressions" are putting a chill on free speech -- even that of professors like her, who have the job security of a tenured position:
As an assistant professor climbing the ranks in higher education, I frequently challenged the loudest voices in the room when I thought they were wrong.Now I have tenure, which assures even greater academic freedom. But in the current campus climate of safe spaces, trigger warnings and outrage over anything politically incorrect, I find myself increasingly holding back and second-guessing myself.
I'm not the only one. A 2010 study from the American Association of Colleges and Universities shows that only 30 percent of college seniors and 17 percent of professors strongly agree it's safe to hold unpopular points of view on campus.
My most recent struggle with self-censorship came in the context of a gala at the international conference. It was a joyous 1920s-style burlesque show, which was "equal opportunity" inclusive as it celebrated life. A comedian in purple pants embraced his gayness and got everybody laughing. Men and women dancers tastefully depicted multiple facets of the Roaring Twenties -- some sensual, some humorous, and everything done to a fun and uplifting beat.
I was dazzled by every performance, but the conference director seemed nervous afterward. He wasn't expecting something quite so provocative as a mini striptease in one sequence, and he worried that people might complain.
Sure enough, a critical post soon appeared on Facebook from a champion of gender inclusiveness -- a gay woman who hadn't seen the show but had learned about it from a friend. Like-minded thinkers quickly added their comments, and some called for a boycott of the society.
As the outrage spread, I wondered what happened to all the people -- men and women -- laughing and applauding during the show. I wanted to add my own comment: "I appreciate your position and your willingness to express it, but you do not speak for me. As a woman, I attended the show and loved it."
Instead, I waited and watched in silence -- passively allowing the angry voices to represent my own. In the end it wasn't me, but another woman who stood alone against the Facebook/Twitter crowd.
I have a professor friend who was attacked for how he said something in class -- for saying, "'Sup?!"; that is, speaking to his dad using AAVE, which I learned is "African American Vernacular English."
He's a white guy, so the student accused him of "cultural appropriation" or something along those lines. (I'm telling the story from memory.) He, like me, sees nothing wrong with "cultural appropriation." It's kind of what America is all about, and a truly great thing -- how we blend and make each other and our country better.
Anyway, because of the chill on free speech on campus, he felt that he couldn't even challenge her on this -- not even in the slightest, politest, kindest way. (And this prof is an extremely kind and compassionate guy -- the kind of person who looks out for the underdog and the lost dog and always wants to help people.)
We are silencing professors and students on campuses across America -- just decades after the "free speech movement" at Berkeley. And while that came out of the left, the current thought and speech policing on campus now comes out of the left.
Professors -- especially the tenured ones -- need to band together to challenge this -- to fight back against being silenced and to protect those who become the ones standing alone against the mob.
I talked about this when bioethicist Alice Dreger and I spoke at the 2015 Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference. My talk was applied science, referencing, for example, the "behavioral immune system" and research on how we create groups.
It was ultimately about how researchers can protect themselves when ideologues go after them -- not because their methodology is shoddy but because their findings conflict with views the ideologues hold dear:
The problem is, when you're first attacked, the fight looks terribly one-sided. They're a group and they're all coming after you. It's scary.The thing is, you have a group, too. This room is a group. We see ourselves that way -- as a group in physical terms -- when we come together for a conference or other event. But we need to identify as a group beyond our physical grouping -- identify as science people, evolutionary science people -- and as a collective for defending science, evolutionary science, and evolutionary scientists. The way we do that is by banding together to defend fellow scientists when they are attacked by ideologues.
And what does "winning" look like? Another bit from my talk:
Also, in fighting back, you shouldn't think you're going to win -- as in, win over the other side. The good news is, you don't have to win, as in "winner take all." You win by protecting your job and your chances for promotion, tenure, and grants. And by winning in these ways, you win, not just for yourself but for other researchers and for science.
via @CHSommers
There are people who will get offended by absolutely anything and everything. One person is offended by dancing. One person is morose and doesn't like laughter. Another thinks any humor except making fun of white men is offensive. Someone else gets uptight about any mention of history (i.e., American Indian depictions, Civil War art, blacks picking cotton) even though it is informative to see how people in the past lived--that is, blacks did not always get to live as nicely as today, at one time they suffered. And of course people are triggered by any mention or depiction of war or conflict. Oh and let's not forget that feminists will see the "patriarchy" in absolutely anything, even as they get 59% of the college degrees.
Since it only takes 1 person to be offended, and the university will always take their side, the nutcases get to decide what can be talked about and art is virtually forbidden if they get an opportunity to comment on it. Solid red canvas? Blood!!! Patriarchy!!
cc at October 5, 2016 11:47 AM
Even though the writer is tenured, this does not protect her from retaliation. If she gets out of line she will soon discover she is no longer invited to sit on panels & committees, has problems getting her papers peer-reviewed and published, and is no longer invited to speak at conferences.
Anyone who has followed the war being waged in the academic/scientific community against global warming skeptics knows the Marxist/statist mafia aims to destroy dissenters personally and professionally. Academics are absolute thugs.
Lastango at October 5, 2016 12:00 PM
"... so the student accused him of "cultural appropriation" or something along those lines."
From a culinary POV I'm extremely grateful for cultural appropriation. Life w/o "Barbecue" would be a sad sad affair. Long live the Arawak cooking ways.
Bob in Texas at October 5, 2016 12:02 PM
Bob in Texas: I am just glad we get to wear the pants that Persians invented--I think a toga would get mighty chilly where I live.
Lastango: indeed they can f*ckyouup if you offend. People have already lost their jobs over PC and over climate change.
cc at October 5, 2016 12:22 PM
That's it exactly: Agarwal knows in the back of her mind, even though neither she nor anyone else wants to say it, that if she gets crosswise with the establishment Left, tenure will not protect her. This contradicts every single public statement the Left has ever made about tenure, to either the profs or the students, but since they gained control of the academy, the security of tenure has always been conditioned on loyalty to the Party. And as the American Left moves into its Jacobin phase, it is impossible to know what actions on a given day will get you denounced. Or you may be denounced simply because the Leftist neural net has suddenly decided that your identity is now part of the out-group.
None of these things happened when the values of Western civ ruled the academy. Well, not very often, and when they did, it was usually a big scandal. Now the Left will not only eliminate who it pleases, it will airbrush out the fact that they ever existed. There will be no dissenters because only a determined and defiant few will ever know that dissent existed, and the Left will do a fantastic job of discrediting those few.
Cousin Dave at October 5, 2016 1:16 PM
The diversity at this (proverbial) table is an interesting one to behold... people twenty years ago I couldn't have guessed we would be standing on the same side when we seemed so vehemently opposed. But even in those days, we fought hard, in our own ways, to be freed of the authoritarian stances imposed by sentimentality over fact and reason.
I can't help but think it's like this election season where my safe space has become the alt right... which is more 'liberal' than what the left has become... although its beginning to cave to some pressures of falling prey to its own echo chamber as its events... like all of these absurd campus antics seem to be escalating and we're pushed to greater and greater extremes...
the gap between widens and yet there's no place, no room to stand in the middle, free from the crossfire.
I don't know what point I had or where I was going with this.. now I just feel like I should re-read the divine comedy / Dante's Inferno and pick out which level of hell I want to spend the remainder of my days in.
Feminist Biology, Christian Evolution, Cultural Appropriation-Free Completely Segregated Except Where Diversity is Required Revised History...
Galileo's Love Child at October 5, 2016 5:26 PM
As bad as this is for our society in general; I cannot help but laugh a little.
Maybe those professors speaking (writing) about this now might not deserve it; but, did they say anything when someone else that they disagree with was "cast to the wolves"?
My guess is not many of them did. They just stood by and let others "die."
. . . and now the chickens have come home to roost.
I won't be crying, not even a little, for them.
charles at October 5, 2016 5:57 PM
I have to agree with you Galileo. I don't know what your point was. Plenty of us saw this coming for decades. Plenty of us spoke out about it. Like Charles I have little pity for those who pushed this through and are now being consumed by it.
Ben at October 5, 2016 6:21 PM
People do hesitate to take a stand. I do as well. It would be stupid to lose your job over some event that is - individually - completely unimportant.
However, if you *do* decide to take a stand, it is essential that you never apologize. An apology is like blood in the water to the SJW sharks. Someone accuses you of cultural appropriate, and you say "damned straight!". Even better, counterattack, accuse the SJW of being the real racist.
a_random_guy at October 6, 2016 5:24 AM
ARG is correct IMO. SJW take advantage of polite non-agressive conversation and plow ahead w/outrageous comments.
A simple "Damn Straight You Ass" gets things straight and saves you a lot of time. Follow that up w/a pithy "And You Don't?" and it's off to the races.
I like "If You Are Human You Are A Racist" myself.
Bob in Texas at October 6, 2016 5:39 AM
"people twenty years ago I couldn't have guessed we would be standing on the same side when we seemed so vehemently opposed. "
We're seeing the next wave of liberals who are realizing that they have been played by the Left, for a long time. The last time this happened was the early 1990s neocons, and for a while they did a lot to help conservatism gain credibility and move forward. Unfortunately they got wrapped up in interventionist foreign policy, to the extent that they lost the thread and become discredited with other conservatives and libertarians. Hopefully this wave can help accomplish what the last one did, without getting sidetracked.
I do not use the word "liberal" loosely, and I discourage others from doing so. I tell people this: A liberal and I basically want the same things for our country: we want people to be free and successful, with high moral standards and enjoying a high standard of living. We may disagree on how to get there, but that's negotiable. There is nothing liberal about the Left.
Cousin Dave at October 6, 2016 7:26 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6CVvNRQcvE
My response to those being consumed by a system they supported
lujlp at October 6, 2016 11:43 AM
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