The causes célèbres du jour are the demonstrations and goings-on at the University of Missouri and Yale. I haven’t dumpster dived into the underlying facts of the cases or even by and large the commentary. I’ll limit my remarks to a few general observations.
There are any number of things in our lives that are not self-limiting. Among them are vigilance, tolerance of free speech, thinskinnedness, and caring about other people. Although we should be wary of anything that isn’t self-limiting, of those tolerance of free speech and caring about other people are the most benign.
Caring about other people and their feelings should make us think twice about saying things with the intent of hurting other people’s feelings. Tolerance of free speech should move us to shrug off slights and injuries caused by other people exercising their right of free speech.
Thinskinnedness and hypervigilance on the other hand move us to feel slights and injuries where none were intended or where no reasonable person would have seen them.
I believe that a decent society requires more tolerance and caring. More thinskinnedness and vigilance lead us into very dangerous territory indeed.
Oh please, those useful idiots for the Left absolutely do not “Care about other people amd their feelings”. This is just another poltical, direct action front of the Left. You seem to not understand the left at all. In fact, you seem to be in the useful idiot pack itself.
They are being used to destabilize and undermine our civilization and and society, and its key institutions. If we truly lived in a decent society, these students should be summarily expelled for this PC nonsense, and their manipulators thrown in jail.
And no, a “decent” society (read here civlization) is not at all about “Caring about other people and their feelings”–how preposterous. It is about treating individuals and not “people”) as the deserve to be treated. Most of all it is about supporting the virtues and values that sustain said civilization.
These people seek to tear down that civilization, thus they, and their “feelings”, should be roundly abjured and rejected.
You spend too much time sucking up the swill of Liberal propagandists.
Your plea for more tolerance from the Left wholly misses the point of what they are up too.
Our radio station in Omaha (KFAB) did an interview with a female black radio personality from Columbia Mo. who wondered why the frequent instances of “polar bearing” (the fist knockout game) by black UMC students against white students was not being reported.
I think it’s shameful that the university president has to resign because cynical blacks continue to portray themselves as victims in spite of and no matter what of, (anything anyone tries to do to heal race relations)
Well written Dave. As a parent, I’ve started to worry if I can teach my children to not shape poop into swastikas, while at the same time not breaking down into hysterics if they see one. The world is getting more complex.
Is it? Or are the things we’re seeing the predictable outcomes of the choices that have been made?
This morning I heard a feature on the radio about “restorative justice” alternatives to suspending kids from school. When did they start suspending kids from school for fighting? When I was in school, admittedly well over a half century ago, fighting was considered normal development. I don’t ever recall anyone having been suspended for fighting.
Do they also suspend girls from school for “mean girl” behavior? Or is that considered benign while fighting is considered aberrant?
A lot of credit should go to the faux outrage machinery of our 24/7 cable news and talk radio outlets. Today everything is horrible. The worst ever. Whatever behavior they dislike will destroy our country, the world, or the universe. Some students cause a ruckus and it means our civilization is being destroyed. Given that this is the first time ever in history that students have ever gotten frisky on campus, maybe they are right.
Anyway, I am not especially sure why we would ever want to judge adults based upon the behavior of some 19-20 y/os. I understand the desire to judge the other team by finding its worst examples, then claiming they represent the whole group. It can be kind of fun at times, but it just isn’t true. It would nice if it stopped, but it won’t. And, FTR, the kids, and even more so, the teachers, are being jerks. They certainly don’t represent anything I believe in.
Steve
When did they start suspending kids from school for fighting?
Can’t say when it started, but it was common practice when I was in school in the ’70s & ’80s. I mean for serious fights, not just brief scuffles. Get in a fight on school property, and it was an automatic three day suspension the first time out, five days the second time, and repeat offenders (of which there seemed to be none, despite what everyone knew was going on) could get expelled for up to half a year.
So fights were arranged to take place on school days before all the parents got home, but always well off school property. It was the natural order of things.
I should say, though, that teachers and administrators exercised a lot more personal discretion back then. (And also used big fucking paddles frequently.) In third grade I once slugged the class bully right in the classroom, left him curled up in a ball on the floor whimpering, and nothing happened to me except for the teacher giving me a stern warning not to do it again. Everyone knew the kid was a punk and had it coming, plus I never caused any trouble back then.
(Incidentally, that’s one of only two good punches I’ve ever thrown in my life, but those are other stories. Short blows to the body! Liver shots rule!)
OTOH, when I got ambushed by a couple of football players in junior high, the coaches who saw it happen let it go, because they were stars on the team. (It was nothing personal, I doubt they even knew my name. But the two of them were psychopaths, and the football coaches loved that in defensive linemen. They randomly beat the shit out of people on a regular basis – causes weren’t needed.) So despite a bloody scalp and what I now realize was a probable concussion, and school officials seeing it take place, not a thing was done. I didn’t even bother telling my family about it. By eighth grade it was already clear how the world worked. (Yes, we had junior high football back then, although it ended within two years.)
That doesn’t tell you when they started suspending kids for fights, but puts a boundary on the problem, at least in central Florida.
Schools are far more protective of students from physical and emotional harms than when I was young. The concept of “bullying” covers both. If someone is making you feel bad, you are encouraged to seek out the principle, who will try to engage the bully before the situation escalates. Our kids’ grade school emphasized respect, has respect rallies every other month. Respect yourself. Respect others. Respect property. I can see and observe how these can create a feeling of being disrepected when expectations aren’t met.
So, the Mizzou professor who refused to cancel a test because of some made up rumor about the KKK has now cancelled the test and resigned, but the school refuses to accept his resignation.
Who is the bully?
(a) the imaginary KKK
(b) the students spreading the rumor
(c) the students refusing to take the test
(d) the professor
(e) the administration
(f) all of the above.