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In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

nytimes.com

51–60 of 116 posts

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#51
post #18
post #4

This article is from March 2015, and shows that the writing has been on the wall for quite a while. The "safe spaces" movement is a plague, and I am sick of it. I hold extremely diverse viewpoints which span the political spectrum. Socially liberal and fiscally conservative. How can liberals claim to be accepting of all viewpoints but, in reality, only accept those that align with their pseudo-personal-Utopia outlook…

You realize that these places are supposed to be breaks where people don't have to deal with others constantly saying they shouldn't exist, right? That's what the LGBTQ spaces are for, that's what the POC spaces are for, and that's what the immigrant spaces are for.

[deleted]

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#52
post #20

> I don’t see how you can have a therapeutic space that’s also an intellectual space. College should be a place where your beliefs should be challenged. If we've learned anything, echo chambers are strong and becoming stronger. The only way to combat that is with adversity.

What if that belief is that you're fine being an LGBTQ person, and the "challenge" is from people who believe that you shouldn't exist or have the same rights as others?

http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/03/all-in-all-another-bric...

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#53
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mind is open, much like a sieve. I find these discussions of tolerance fascinating. The core message of people that preach tolerance is that we shouldn't give people are hard time for views and beliefs that don't harm others, not that we should accept all views and beliefs as being equally useful. Of course the issue most comes to a head in situations like gay marriage, where a large group of people see it as caus…

When "harm" is in the eye of the beholder, anything can be rationalized as harmful for political gain.

OK, what do anti-gay-marriage people have to gain politically, if they got their way?

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#54
post #20

> I don’t see how you can have a therapeutic space that’s also an intellectual space. College should be a place where your beliefs should be challenged. If we've learned anything, echo chambers are strong and becoming stronger. The only way to combat that is with adversity.

What if that belief is that you're fine being an LGBTQ person, and the "challenge" is from people who believe that you shouldn't exist or have the same rights as others?

If that's your belief, you can talk to that person or dismiss them.

Talking to them opens an opportunity for mutual understanding, while dismissing them changes nothing.

EDIT: I don't know why you're being downvoted. You've proposed a great example.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#55
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When "harm" is in the eye of the beholder, anything can be rationalized as harmful for political gain.

You really think that harm isn't in the eye of the beholder?

https://youtu.be/RzA4dCT4X0I

Some people are way too eager to be victims.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#56
post #21
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a problem with safe spaces. To me, they're like office break rooms. Sometimes you just need a minute to disengage. But, if you're spending your whole day in there, I'm going to question why you show up to work in the first place.

the problem is when you try to make the entire university campus a "safe space"

I think it sets a bad precedent, and fosters unrealistic expectations for when they leave. Most universities have counselors and psychologists you can talk to, for free, if your struggling with something. Bubbles and kittens don't help actual victims of violence.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#57
Has there been any empirical research done on this? Whenever this topic comes up on the Internet it is very charged and full of assumptions. I suspect that the creation/utilization of safe spaces and trigger warnings is actually rather low in a country with almost 14 million students in higher education.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#60
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if that belief is that you're fine being an LGBTQ person, and the "challenge" is from people who believe that you shouldn't exist or have the same rights as others?

If you believe you are right then why can't you simply disagree with it, rather than hide from anything that _might_ be a "challenge"?

Because if you disagree with it you get your face bashed in?
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