In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas • Hacker News Board

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#11

Post by littletimmy » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:21 AM UTC

This is the end result of a culture that treats children like dainty chinadolls that are going to shatter at the first fracture.

These kids are coddled since they are born to make sure they are "safe" and ferried endlessly from one constructive activity to another so they don't take any risk. Of course it will also be that they need "safe spaces" in college (basically extended high school) whenever they hear something tangentially against their worldview.

The assertion that a discussion of "rape culture" can be "too distressing" such as to require a trauma room is absolutely ridiculous. A part of it, I'm sure, is that the administrator needs to justify her unnecessary employment by creating work.

What farce.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#12

Post by eigenvector » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:23 AM UTC

DanFeldman wrote: post #9

I can definitely relate first hand to this as a current college student. To borrow some jargon, I absolutely feel 'unsafe' discussing many of these topics in public, and I don't hold controversial or polarizing opinions. Some people quickly label others as racist or misogynistic for presenting contrary viewpoints. Granted, those who seek to shut out debate by this sort of censorship are probably not worth debating, i…

The condemnatory value of the "isms" (racism, sexism, etc.) seems greatly diminished these days. Once upon a time, if you hurled "racist" at someone it was because, y'know, they actively hated and oppressed people of other races. If someone asked me if I'd hire a racist I could comfortably say no without being afraid it was a loaded question meant to see if I'd ostracize some white guy who retweeted a rap lyric 3 years ago.

Nowadays it seems to mean something more along the lines of "you said something at least tangentially related to race that I didn't quite agree with".

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#13

Post by tunesmith » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:26 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #2

Is this phenomenon observable in cultures that are generally accepted as more progressively feminist than the US? (e.g. northern European countries, Germany, etc) I'm not American and I don't know much about feminism, so for me it's hard to tell the proportions with which these ideas come from US culture vs feminism (there are accounts of UK based initiatives, but there is heavy cross pollination between the US and U…

This sounds like a conclusion looking for evidence. What's with the interest in blaming this on feminism?

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#14

Post by ZenoArrow » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:27 AM UTC

tunesmith wrote: post #8

It wasn't so long ago that "trigger warning" wasn't even a common phrase. I remember thinking about this in college, though, because I was in a relationship with someone who would get angry at people for expressing input that was too closely related to recent private trauma she had been through. I didn't really understand it because I had always trained myself to judge the producer of input by the intent of the produ…

> "I had always trained myself to judge the producer of input by the intent of the producer, rather than by how it affected me"

Then I applaud you, as that is a vital skill, rarely understood. So much miscommunication happens because content is easier to follow than intent, yet understanding intent is what really lets you get to know someone.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#15

Post by joeclark77 » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:30 AM UTC

DanFeldman wrote: post #9

I can definitely relate first hand to this as a current college student. To borrow some jargon, I absolutely feel 'unsafe' discussing many of these topics in public, and I don't hold controversial or polarizing opinions. Some people quickly label others as racist or misogynistic for presenting contrary viewpoints. Granted, those who seek to shut out debate by this sort of censorship are probably not worth debating, i…

You used to hear American liberals saying things like "I disagree with your position, but I would defend to the death your right to express it." It was part of the creed that they thought defined them as "progressive". Funny, you don't hear that much any more.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#16

Post by scintill76 » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:34 AM UTC

bufordsharkley wrote: post #5

"Ms. El Rhazoui replied, somewhat irritably, “Being Charlie Hebdo means to die because of a drawing,” and not everyone has the guts to do that (although she didn’t use the word guts)." Amusing that the NYT's fusty policy for censoring profanity pokes its nose into THIS quote, of all things.

I'm reminded of the time I elided repeated profanity from a Fahrenheit 451 passage I quoted in a high-school paper about the book. I found the profanity unnecessary and felt it sort of obscured the point, but I did not realize the irony of censoring "451" until the teacher pointed it out. Well, at least I didn't burn the parts I didn't like, I just editorialized them...

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#17

Post by Frondo » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:36 AM UTC

joeclark77 wrote: post #15

DanFeldman wrote: post #9

I can definitely relate first hand to this as a current college student. To borrow some jargon, I absolutely feel 'unsafe' discussing many of these topics in public, and I don't hold controversial or polarizing opinions. Some people quickly label others as racist or misogynistic for presenting contrary viewpoints. Granted, those who seek to shut out debate by this sort of censorship are probably not worth debating, i…

You used to hear American liberals saying things like "I disagree with your position, but I would defend to the death your right to express it." It was part of the creed that they thought defined them as "progressive". Funny, you don't hear that much any more.

The thing is, I don't think there are all that many liberals out there who want to use the force of law to prevent objectionable speech;

They do want to use the force of law to prevent businesses from discriminating among their customers, though, which is an important distinction.

Hate black people? Sure, put up a klan poster, but you've still gotta serve 'em a drink.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#18

Post by tunesmith » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:36 AM UTC

littletimmy wrote: post #11

This is the end result of a culture that treats children like dainty chinadolls that are going to shatter at the first fracture. These kids are coddled since they are born to make sure they are "safe" and ferried endlessly from one constructive activity to another so they don't take any risk. Of course it will also be that they need "safe spaces" in college (basically extended high school) whenever they hear somethin…

I've always rolled my eyes at complaints about the "trophy generation" (Adam Carolla had a particularly brain-deadening rant about it), but this article honestly did get me wondering about how people like that would be able to cope with actual professional atmospheres after college. On the other hand, this article is an editorial that doesn't really try to quantify the problem, so maybe "people like that" aren't really a measurable population.

It's probably not so much the "trauma rooms" that are the problem, as it is using them as reason to censor the "traumatic discussions".

It'd be nice if there were more mechanisms in place to both teach and encourage actual reasoned discussion aka dialectic. There's too much debate out there, too much ethos and pathos crowding out logos.

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#19

Post by Negitivefrags » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:41 AM UTC

The more I see this kind of thing the more I am starting to fear that this is an unintended consequence of the internet.

Similarly to being raised in a cult, the internet gives people the ability to spend most of their time in a community that reinforces their world view while forcing out any dissenting view points.

Subcultures on the internet tend to trend towards the more and more extreme as anybody expressing an opposing view can be quickly and easily downvoted / banned.

Is it any wonder that now all the young adults entering university raised in this manner now behave this way?

Re: In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas

#20

Post by eigenvector » Sun, Mar 22, 2015, 8:44 AM UTC

tunesmith wrote: post #18

littletimmy wrote: post #11

This is the end result of a culture that treats children like dainty chinadolls that are going to shatter at the first fracture. These kids are coddled since they are born to make sure they are "safe" and ferried endlessly from one constructive activity to another so they don't take any risk. Of course it will also be that they need "safe spaces" in college (basically extended high school) whenever they hear somethin…

I've always rolled my eyes at complaints about the "trophy generation" (Adam Carolla had a particularly brain-deadening rant about it), but this article honestly did get me wondering about how people like that would be able to cope with actual professional atmospheres after college. On the other hand, this article is an editorial that doesn't really try to quantify the problem, so maybe "people like that" aren't real…

As someone who graduated from university in the last few years and has observed the drastic and gaping difference between school and workplace environment, people adapt to their new circumstances pretty quickly.

Keep in mind that 99% of the "trigger warning" generation is just following along with what is presented to them in university as unassailable orthodoxy. When they get to the workplace and are presented with another, altogether different, unassailable orthodoxy (STFU and fit in with company culture), they fall in line pretty quickly.