The Psychology of Campus PC

Mac1958

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Dec 8, 2011
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Opposing Authoritarian Ideological Fundamentalism.
Wow, if you can invest 19 minutes, here's a fascinating conversation between liberals Sam Harris (one of my 3 favorite thinkers) and Johnathon Haidt on how we came to a point at which our college students must run to "safe spaces" to avoid being injured by words.

At about 7:45, Haidt posits the theory that this especially pernicious and virulent strain of PC is the result of children who are now of college age becoming dependent, essentially from birth, on an authority figure to whom they can run when they are challenged in any way.

Interesting stuff. These two liberals are fairly horrified by what they're seeing, and they're trying to find the root causes of this madness.
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Haidt also points out the role college Presidents are playing to exacerbate this:

"The university Presidents, faced with demands from students, cannot say no. So the students give them an ultimatum, demanding that they (capitulate). So all over the country, these Presidents are giving in, they're caving in, they're validating this victim narrative, and they're promising to do things - like more micro-aggression training, more diversity training -which are going to make things worse."

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Wow, if you can invest 19 minutes, here's a fascinating conversation between liberals Sam Harris (one of my 3 favorite thinkers) and Johnathon Haidt on how we came to a point at which our college students must run to "safe spaces" to avoid being injured by words.

At about 7:45, Haidt posits the theory that this especially pernicious and virulent strain of PC is the result of children who are now of college age becoming dependent, essentially from birth, on an authority figure to whom they can run when they are challenged in any way.

Interesting stuff. These two liberals are fairly horrified by what they're seeing, and they're trying to find the root causes of this madness.

Yes, they are very good at beating up straw men.

There are a lot of problems with our universities, but "safe spaces" and "PC" aren't amongst them.

The real problem is that they've become a business, and you run a business by making your customers happy.
 
Haidt also points out the role college Presidents are playing to exacerbate this:

"The university Presidents, faced with demands from students, cannot say no. So the students give them an ultimatum, demanding that they (capitulate). So all over the country, these Presidents are giving in, they're caving in, they're validating this victim narrative, and they're promising to do things - like more micro-aggression training, more diversity training -which are going to make things worse."

Yeah, I know, what kind of a world do we live in where privilaged white frat boys don't have the kind of power they used to.
 
Wow, if you can invest 19 minutes, here's a fascinating conversation between liberals Sam Harris (one of my 3 favorite thinkers) and Johnathon Haidt on how we came to a point at which our college students must run to "safe spaces" to avoid being injured by words.

At about 7:45, Haidt posits the theory that this especially pernicious and virulent strain of PC is the result of children who are now of college age becoming dependent, essentially from birth, on an authority figure to whom they can run when they are challenged in any way.

Interesting stuff. These two liberals are fairly horrified by what they're seeing, and they're trying to find the root causes of this madness.

Yes, they are very good at beating up straw men.

There are a lot of problems with our universities, but "safe spaces" and "PC" aren't amongst them.

The real problem is that they've become a business, and you run a business by making your customers happy.

Unless you work for that business and you run it out of business.
 
Another honest and embarrassed liberal:
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That Islamophobia isn't considered a liberal virtue.

Did the swarthy Arab man scare you once, Mac?

Okay, let's get real. I missed the fun times of the 1960's, but in the 1980's, college kids were just as full of themselves then as they are now.

I remember being on the Student Government, and they decided they all needed to travel to Washington on Amtrak because Reagan was cutting back on Amtrak. Because they had to send a message.

(This is when I was young and a campus conservative because I didn't know any better, either. Good times.)

So really, nothing is changed and there isn't a big crisis, as much as you want there to be.
 
Journalist Caitlin Flanagan is also troubled by this, saying that college students are "the inheritors of thirty years of Identity Politics", and also goes after colleges themselves for contributing to the insanity:

Yawn....

Here's an idea. instead of letting kids go direct to college after high school, they all have to do two years of some kind of national service. Can be the military, the peace corps, whatever. Then they can figure out what's what and learn a little discipline and maybe spend some time living in close proximity to people of different religions, races cultures.

Then they do college, after they've grown up a bit.
 

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