We are raising a generation of emotional infants

[TitanTiger 20,471]

The TL;DR version: A college administrator's wife wrote a letter critiquing the hand wringing that was going on over Halloween costumes. She rightly points out that the very nature of free speech means that you might sometimes be offended, but that the response to that isn't to shut everything down, but to either look away or engage the person offending you and have a discussion about it. You know, like grown-ass people.

But the generation we're raising has no concept of open intellectual discourse and believes rather that they should be insulated from any idea or concept that might cause them discomfort. Rod Dreher has the breakdown:

Campus Cultural Revolution –> More Culture War

Every time I think that there could not be anything more outrageous than whatever these crackpot campus Social Justice Warriors come up with, they manage to exceed my own imaginative capacities. Brace yourself for this one.

At Yale University, there’s a campus-wide tempest underway over an October 30 letter the wife of a master of Silliman College there wrote to residents of the college regarding the Intercultural Affairs Committee’s directionsnot to dress offensively at Halloween. Erika Christakis, whose husband Nicholas is master of the college (she is associate master), wrote, in part:

Even if we could agree on how to avoid offense – and I’ll note that no one around campus seems overly concerned about the offense taken by religiously conservative folks to skin­revealing costumes – I wonder, and I am not trying to be provocative: 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?

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. And the censure and prohibition come from above, not from yourselves! Are we all okay with this transfer of power? Have we lost faith in young people’s capacity – in your capacity ­ to exercise self­censure, through social norming, and also in your capacity to ignore or reject things that trouble you? We tend to view this shift from individual to institutional agency as a tradeoff between libertarian vs. liberal values (“liberal” in the American, not European sense of the word).

Nicholas says, if you don’t like a costume someone is wearing, look away, or tell them you are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society.

But – again, speaking as a child development specialist – I think there might be something missing in our discourse about the exercise of free speech (including how we dress ourselves) on campus, and it is this: What does this debate about Halloween costumes say about our view of young adults, of their strength and judgment?

In other words: Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people? It’s not mine, I know that.

You would think that college students, especially college students at one of the nation’s leading universities, would appreciate that kind of respect for them. And if they disagreed with her, they would at least consider the matter debatable.

Oh no, no, no. Over 700 students and faculty at Yale (and a few at other colleges) signed an open letter denouncing Erika Christakis. It reads, in part:

The contents of your email were jarring and disheartening. Your email equates old traditions of using harmful stereotypes and tropes to further degrade marginalized people, to preschoolers playing make believe. This both trivializes the harm done by these tropes and infantilizes the student body to which the request was made. You fail to distinguish the difference between cosplaying fictional characters and misrepresenting actual groups of people. In your email, you ask students to “look away” if costumes are offensive, as if the degradation of our cultures and people, and the violence that grows out of it is something that we can ignore. We were told to meet the offensive parties head on, without suggesting any modes or means to facilitate these discussions to promote understanding. Giving “room” for students to be “obnoxious” or “offensive”, as you suggest, is only inviting ridicule and violence onto ourselves and our communities, and ultimately comes at the expense of room in which marginalized students can feel safe.

More:

To be a student of color on Yale’s campus is to exist in a space that was not created for you. From the Eurocentric courses, to the lack of diversity in the faculty, to the names of slave owners and traders that adorn most of the buildings on campus — all are reminders that Yale’s history is one of exclusion. An exclusion that was based on the same stereotypes and incorrect beliefs that students now seek to wear as costumes. Stereotypes that many students still face to this day when navigating the university. The purpose of blackface, yellowface, and practices like these were meant to alienate, denigrate, and to portray people of color as something inferior and unwelcome in society. To see that replicated on college campuses only reinforces the idea that this is a space in which we do not belong.

Nicholas Christakis attempted to meet with a group of students for hours to talk about all this. Take a look at how these coddled brats treated him:

There are more videos. Greg Lukianoff was there watching it, and writes:

One of the stronger accusations the students make is that Christakis’ refusal to apologize for his wife’s email makes him unfit to be master of Silliman.

“As your position as master, it is your job to create a place of comfort and home for the students that live in Silliman,” one student says. “You have not done that. By sending out that email, that goes against your position as master. Do you understand that?”

When Christakis disagreed, the student proceeded to yell at him.

“Who the **** hired you?” she asked, arguing that Christakis should “step down” because being master is “not about creating an intellectual space,” but rather “creating a home.”

This student is not alone. Many other students are going so far as to demand that Christakis and his wife resign from their roles as master and associate master. According to the

Washington Post

, students were

drafting a formal letter

Thursday evening, calling for the removal of Christakis and her husband from their roles in Silliman.

Read about the whole thing, courtesy of Lukianoff, of the indispensable FIRE.

Make no mistake about it, this mob is the enemy of free thought, the enemy of culture, the enemy of all of us who care about the intellect and learning. They are trying to hound this man and his wife off campus simply because she voiced skepticism over the university’s administration’s attempts to manage the way adult college students costume for Halloween. Incredibly, this mob of students, in the name of “safety,” demands that Mommy and Daddy Yale’s administration protect them from having to confront any image or sight that might cause them the least distress.

If the Yale administration gives a single inch to these people, they will have disgraced themselves. Mark my words, though: these young left-wing, anti-liberal tyrants will move into elite positions in the American establishment, because Yale is a gateway to that kind of privilege. And when they do, they will exercise that power against anybody who doesn’t bow down to their radicalism.

Sooner or later, the backlash will come, and it is not going to be pleasant for the Social Justice Warriors. Ordinary people are going to get sick and tired of this Maoist bullying, and push back hard. May that day be hastened.

http://www.theameric...lture-war-yale/

[homersapien 11,354]

So a committee writes a letter to the students "encouraging" civility and respect? OUTRAGEOUS!! :-\

Seems to me the reactive rhetoric to this is way over the top. It's ironic.

[TitanTiger 20,471]

So a committee writes a letter to the students "encouraging" civility and respect? OUTRAGEOUS!! :-\

Seems to me the reactive rhetoric to this is way over the top. It's ironic.

Am I understanding you correctly? You think the wife's letter is the "reactive rhetoric" that should be questioned here? A wife of a college master wrote a letter to the student "encouraging" people not to get so easily butthurt (my word, not hers) and to engage people in reasonable dialogue if they do something that offends you. The students' reaction is to call for the guy to step down from his position because he doesn't feel the need to apologize for what his wife said.

But you think the people reacting to this growing "don't offend anyone" stuff are the ones over reacting?

[aujeff11 6,243]

The University of Missouri situation as mentioned in the football rivals section reminded me of this well timed thread.

[DKW 86 7,411]

So a committee writes a letter to the students "encouraging" civility and respect? OUTRAGEOUS!! :-\

Seems to me the reactive rhetoric to this is way over the top. It's ironic.

Am I understanding you correctly? You think the wife's letter is the "reactive rhetoric" that should be questioned here? A wife of a college master wrote a letter to the student "encouraging" people not to get so easily butthurt (my word, not hers) and to engage people in reasonable dialogue if they do something that offends you. The students' reaction is to call for the guy to step down from his position because he doesn't feel the need to apologize for what his wife said.

But you think the people reacting to this growing "don't offend anyone" stuff are the ones over reacting?

If i read her background right, she is at least an equivalent to an adjunct professor herself.

homer, if we cant have civil disagreements on a college campus, we cannot have them anywhere.

http://www.ew.com/ar...ollege-campuses

Jerry Seinfeld: Politically correct college students 'don't know what the hell they're talking about'

Like Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy, Jerry Seinfeld avoids doing shows on college campuses. And while talking with ESPN’s Colin Cowherd on Thursday, the comedian revealed why: College kids today are too politically correct.

“I hear that all the time,” Seinfeld said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me, ‘Don’t go near colleges. They’re so PC.’”

Seinfeld says teens and college-aged kids don’t understand what it means to throw around certain politically-correct terms. “They just want to use these words: ‘That’s racist;’ ‘That’s sexist;’ ‘That’s prejudice,’” he said. “They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”

The funnyman went on to recount a conversation he and his wife had with their 14-year-old daughter, which he believes proved his point.

“My wife says to her, ‘Well, you know, in the next couple years, I think maybe you’re going to want to be hanging around the city more on the weekends, so you can see boys,’” Seinfeld recalled. “You know what my daughter says? She says, ‘That’s sexist.’”

Cowherd pointed out the flack comedian Louis C.K. received after his controversial appearance onSaturday Night Live last month, further proving Seinfeld’s point.

[homersapien 11,354]

So a committee writes a letter to the students "encouraging" civility and respect? OUTRAGEOUS!! :-\

Seems to me the reactive rhetoric to this is way over the top. It's ironic.

Am I understanding you correctly? You think the wife's letter is the "reactive rhetoric" that should be questioned here? A wife of a college master wrote a letter to the student "encouraging" people not to get so easily butthurt (my word, not hers) and to engage people in reasonable dialogue if they do something that offends you. The students' reaction is to call for the guy to step down from his position because he doesn't feel the need to apologize for what his wife said.

But you think the people reacting to this growing "don't offend anyone" stuff are the ones over reacting?

I was referring to this:

the wife of a master of Silliman College there wrote to residents of the college regarding the Intercultural Affairs Committee’s directionsnot to dress offensively at Halloween. Erika Christakis, whose husband Nicholas is master of the college (she is associate master), wrote, in part:....

This is what started it, right? So I say, what's the big deal?

[TitanTiger 20,471]

So a committee writes a letter to the students "encouraging" civility and respect? OUTRAGEOUS!! :-\

Seems to me the reactive rhetoric to this is way over the top. It's ironic.

Am I understanding you correctly? You think the wife's letter is the "reactive rhetoric" that should be questioned here? A wife of a college master wrote a letter to the student "encouraging" people not to get so easily butthurt (my word, not hers) and to engage people in reasonable dialogue if they do something that offends you. The students' reaction is to call for the guy to step down from his position because he doesn't feel the need to apologize for what his wife said.

But you think the people reacting to this growing "don't offend anyone" stuff are the ones over reacting?

I was referring to this:

the wife of a master of Silliman College there wrote to residents of the college regarding the Intercultural Affairs Committee’s directionsnot to dress offensively at Halloween. Erika Christakis, whose husband Nicholas is master of the college (she is associate master), wrote, in part:....

This is what started it, right? So I say, what's the big deal?

Yeah, she basically and mildly countered this current trend of worrying so much about costumes and suggested that maybe we don't need to get offended so easily, or if we are genuinely offended we should talk to the person about it. The students are acting like butthurt children that must be shielded from any potential offense and want her and her husband to step down.

[telling tiger 156]

So....people get upset over silly things, do they? You don't say.....

http://www.huffingto...0000592&ref=yfp

[TitanTiger 20,471]

So....people get upset over silly things, do they? You don't say.....

http://www.huffingto...0000592&ref=yfp

I'm fairly well versed on Christendom and I've never heard of any of these people or the organizations they represent.

I had a larger point. Do you?

[telling tiger 156]

My larger point is that many people have absurd reactions to things that they have a social, cultural or political interest in.

[TitanTiger 20,471]

My larger point is that many people have absurd reactions to things that they have a social, cultural or political interest in.

My larger point is that there's actually a bigger issue at play than just the particular incident highlighted. No one outside of that small group of kooky believers cares about Starbucks' cup design. Most Christians would even roll their eyes at it. It certainly has no implications outside of their own personal tempest in a thimble (teapot would be giving too much credit).

But there is a bigger problem on college campuses and academia. It's a continuing trend of making offense taken the end of any discussion. It utterly flies in the face of a 'liberal' education. When we encounter speech that we disagree with or even find offensive, we used to believe that even those messages were worth hearing and those expressions worth being permitted because of our believe in a robust ideal of free speech. The antidote to bad or hurtful or offensive speech was not less speech - shutting the other side down - it's more speech. It's using your own freedom of speech to win the debate in the marketplace of ideas. You show your view is the better one by putting forth a better argument, not by intimidating the other side. But this isn't being taught our children in major universities anymore. We're teaching them that when confronted with ideas that are different from their own, that challenge their presuppositions and beliefs in a matter that they should simply get upset, play the victim, and try to get people fired and run out of the public square.

I remember going off to college and there was a philosophy professor that had gotten some notoriety among a lot of the Christian students. He was supposedly an atheist or agnostic and liked tearing into Christians in the class and trying to undermine their faith. But a friend of mine at the time said something very profound to me as I was about to take that class. He said that any faith or worldview that can't withstand questioning isn't a faith worth having. Truth, ultimate Truth, should be able to handle pushback or you need to reexamine how true it really is. I took the class, he was challenging but what I really found was that he seemed to relish playing the devil's advocate on any given issue depending on what he felt the general lean of the class was. It was enjoyable, I got a good grade and didn't feel my faith undermined in any way.

Christians are expected to face this sort of thing in the university environment. Those who embrace it come out stronger and with a more refined belief. Their faith truly becomes theirs and not just what was passed on from their parents. Do modern "progressive" students feel this way? Do they feel the same scrutiny should apply to their views. If not, is the university culture actually making it worse?

[TitanTiger 20,471]

It gets worse:

As a Silimander, I feel that my home is being threatened. Last week, Erika Christakis, the associate master of Silliman College, sent an email to the Silliman community that called an earlier entreaty for Yalies to be more sensitive about culturally appropriating Halloween costumes a threat to free speech. In the aftermath of the email, I saw my community divide. She did not just start a political discourse as she intended. She marginalized many students of color in what is supposed to be their home. But more disappointing than the original email has been the response of Christakis and her husband, Silliman Master Nicholas Christakis. They have failed to acknowledge the hurt and pain that such a large part of our community feel. They have again and again shown that they are committed to an ideal of free speech, not to the Silliman community.

Today, when a group of us, organized originally by the Black Student Alliance at Yale, spoke with Christakis in the Silliman Courtyard, his response once again disappointed many of us. When students tried to tell him about their painful personal experiences as students of color on campus, he responded by making more arguments for free speech. It’s unacceptable when the Master of your college is dismissive of your experiences. The Silliman Master’s role is not only to provide intellectual stimulation, but also to make Silliman a safe space that all students can come home to. His responsibility is to make it a place where your experiences are a valid concern to the administration and where you can feel free to talk with them about your pain without worrying that the conversation will turn into an argument every single time. We are supposed to feel encouraged to go to our Master and Associate Master with our concerns and feel that our opinions will be respected and heard.

But, in his ten weeks as a leader of the college, Master Christakis has not fostered this sense of community. He seems to lack the ability, quite frankly, to put aside his opinions long enough to listen to the very real hurt that the community feels. He doesn’t get it. And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain...

...I have had to watch my friends defend their right to this institution. This email and the subsequent reaction to it have interrupted their lives. I have friends who are not going to class, who are not doing their homework, who are losing sleep, who are skipping meals, and who are having breakdowns. I feel drained. And through it all, Christakis has shown that he does not consider us a priority.

Losing sleep? Skipping meals? Not going to class?

All because someone won't accept that your "pain" is the end of the discussion and should trump all other consideration.

Infants. How are these emotional basket cases ever gong to function in the real world?

[quietfan 233]

https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider/videos/10153092886109071/?pnref=story