Saturday, February 21, 2015

"The progressive ideas behind the lack of free speech on campus"

"These days, when students talk about threats to their safety and demand access to “safe spaces,” they’re often talking about the threat of unwelcome speech and demanding protection from the emotional disturbances sparked by unsettling ideas. It’s not just rape that some women on campus fear: It’s discussions of rape. At Brown University, a scheduled debate between two feminists about rape culture was criticized for, as the Brown Daily Herald put it, undermining “the University’s mission to create a safe and supportive environment for survivors.” In a school-wide e-mail, Brown President Christina Paxon emphasized her belief in the existence of rape culture and invited students to an alternative lecture, to be given at the same time as the debate. And the Daily Herald reported that students who feared being “attacked by the viewpoints” offered at the debate could instead “find a safe space” among “sexual assault peer educators, women peer counselors and staff” during the same time slot. Presumably they all shared the same viewpoints and could be trusted not to “attack” anyone with their ideas." (Link t the whole article)



Via Instapundit

3 comments:

ricpic said...

Goya made a series of etchings called Los Caprichos. The etching that applies to the unwillingness of these so-called students to listen to reason is titled: The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters. And the full epigraph to that etching is: Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels. Goya was of course commenting on the Spanish elite in the early 19th century but he uncannily hit the mark regarding our own elite, who are not only in thrall to fantasy but will not listen to reason.

You better post that etching, Lem, or I'll never forgive you ha ha ha ha ha....

bagoh20 said...

As you get older, impending death provides a kind hope that we will not be around to depend on these people to share the burden of a free society, because they clearly are not up to it. I can't believe they can dress themselves in the morning. You take out a sock and it's inside out, so you throw it out for offending your carefully cultured and ordered sensitivities.

YoungHegelian said...

That such Stalinism has become the default setting at many of our major universities is absolutely astounding.

It really may be time to shut down some of these institutions & just start again.

The takeaway: Never, ever, let a bunch of lefties get a hold of a pile of someone else's money (i.e. university endowments). They will use that money to untether themselves from all reality.