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This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

okwu.edu

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Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#61

Post by frobozz »

sago wrote: post #6

I think the world would be better if, before you're allowed to respond to someone being wrong, you have to first be able to express their position in a way that they agree represents their view. Because 'political correctness' isn't the cancer at the heart of social politics, it is straw-manning. On both sides of every issue. I'd be surprised, perhaps even amazed, if Dr Piper had represented the complaint in any way…

Indeed. Either the complainant is a troll, or doesn't exist.

No normal person would attend a sermon at the chapel of a given faith, and complain that the sermon victimises them for being a poor practitioner of that faith. This is doubly true when its about something universal like love, rather than how well you practice some specific ritual.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#62

Post by madaxe_again »

cJ0th wrote: post #11

"I like to offend people, because I think that everyone who gets offended, should be offended." -- Linus Torvalds

One takes offence, one does not give it. It's an idiopathic condition.

I'm a white male, but I grew up being called Gwailo, Gaijin, Auslander, and when I finally returned to the anglosphere in my early teens, I was still an outsider as I spoke with a weird accent and was by that point a through-and-through third culture kid. I got the crap bullied out of me, and eventually figured out that it only hurt if I took it to heart. I learned to pity those whose worlds were so small that they could only take satisfaction from being cruel to me. It was their problem, not mine.

Folks need to have thicker skin, and realise that not everything is about them. In fact, very little is ever about you, most of what people say and do are manifestations of their own thoughts and emotional issues. Physical violence is of course something that needs to be fought against (and this is why we have criminal justice systems which typically take this sort of thing perfectly seriously), but you can only be the victim of "verbal violence" if you choose to take the position of victim.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#64

Post by whatok »

maaku wrote: post #21
lagadu wrote: post #3

I find it baffling that there are people, in the real world, who somehow think that for unexplained reasons they have the right to not be offended or be made to feel uncomfortable. Somehow they believe that their feelings are the responsibility of everyone else.

While I sympathize with your viewpoint, perhaps I can shed some clarity on the other side. The concern is not feelings getting hurt, but rather physical security as a person of minority status. This is something that a white heterosexual middle-class male (such as myself) can probably never fully appreciate, but I try to sympathize. Imagine what it is like to be black in a country where just a few generations back yo…

Why has all the hyper-sensitivity only come to the forefront over the past few years then?

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#65

Post by klagermkii »

I do find it a pity that people on both sides feel that their points are so "common sense" correct that they have no reason to educate, and that people who disagree are being somehow deliberately obtuse. I think sometimes they feel it justifies to people the use of strawmen, because it's almost not worth their time dealing with such obviousness.

The whole idea of "being yourself" has a lot of nuance that has been left unaddressed. Where do we draw the line between things that we should be expected to change, vs what the world must learn to accept? How much obligation does the world have on accepting us for who we are, and how much pressure are they allowed to put on us to change? Is "being yourself" even an ideal state vs chasing ones potential? How do you avoid crippling guilt if you're always chasing an elusive ideal? How do you learn to like yourself if you're never what you should be? If you aren't chasing improvement in yourself does it just end up turning into decay?

I think it's a really difficult subject while both sides are screaming "DUH!" at each other.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#66

Post by givinguflac »

icebraining wrote: post #27

Yet another post for HN to one-up each other decrying the "PC culture" with plenty of "kids these days" rants, while completely avoiding taking the charitable position and putting ourselves in their shoes. The amount of hypocrisy that comes with the claims that these students should "learn to cope with uncomfortable ideas" is staggering. Guess what: these students are presenting us with an "uncomfortable idea" and th…

Are you suggesting people should not learn to cope with uncomfortable ideas? This is a pretty ridiculous comment you're making here. Freedom of speech and expression has, is, and always will be more important than one's personal comfort.

That said, these people are just as free to voice these small minded, selfish complaints as I am to ignore them.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#67

Post by jccalhoun »

rubidium wrote: post #24
sago wrote: post #6

I think the world would be better if, before you're allowed to respond to someone being wrong, you have to first be able to express their position in a way that they agree represents their view. Because 'political correctness' isn't the cancer at the heart of social politics, it is straw-manning. On both sides of every issue. I'd be surprised, perhaps even amazed, if Dr Piper had represented the complaint in any way…

Having spent far more than my fair share of time around University students (11 years), I can assure you that the complaint is likely what the student said. It smells very much like what students today are saying. Remember the other professor who had students call the police because there were mice in their apartment?

"Having spent far more than my fair share of time around University students (11 years), I can assure you that the complaint is likely what the student said. It smells very much like what students today are saying."

I guess I have different students because I've been teaching college since 2000 and have never had any complaints like this and neither have any of my friends.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#68

Post by puttyaccount »

maaku wrote: post #21
lagadu wrote: post #3

I find it baffling that there are people, in the real world, who somehow think that for unexplained reasons they have the right to not be offended or be made to feel uncomfortable. Somehow they believe that their feelings are the responsibility of everyone else.

While I sympathize with your viewpoint, perhaps I can shed some clarity on the other side. The concern is not feelings getting hurt, but rather physical security as a person of minority status. This is something that a white heterosexual middle-class male (such as myself) can probably never fully appreciate, but I try to sympathize. Imagine what it is like to be black in a country where just a few generations back yo…

500 years ago everyone was more likely to die as a result of violence or disease. this doesn't make me feel unsafe now.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#69

Post by SolaceQuantum »

caio1982 wrote: post #18
sago wrote: post #6

I think the world would be better if, before you're allowed to respond to someone being wrong, you have to first be able to express their position in a way that they agree represents their view. Because 'political correctness' isn't the cancer at the heart of social politics, it is straw-manning. On both sides of every issue. I'd be surprised, perhaps even amazed, if Dr Piper had represented the complaint in any way…

...or perhaps he just got fed up of dealing with these kind of people (of a different generation) and had to vent it out.

Then it's just using straw men to vent an anger that could be cured with acceptance (love?) and understanding.

Re: This Is Not a Day Care. It’s a University

#70

Post by [deleted] »

maaku wrote: post #21
lagadu wrote: post #3

I find it baffling that there are people, in the real world, who somehow think that for unexplained reasons they have the right to not be offended or be made to feel uncomfortable. Somehow they believe that their feelings are the responsibility of everyone else.

While I sympathize with your viewpoint, perhaps I can shed some clarity on the other side. The concern is not feelings getting hurt, but rather physical security as a person of minority status. This is something that a white heterosexual middle-class male (such as myself) can probably never fully appreciate, but I try to sympathize. Imagine what it is like to be black in a country where just a few generations back yo…

[deleted]
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