Tuesday, January 10, 2017

“Treat Other People the Way They Want to be Treated”



Oh, the horror on American college campuses; the safe spaces, the micro-aggressions.  It is even noticed internationally and – at least to some degree – more honestly reported than it is domestically.  The title of this post is a quote that really encapsulates this sickness (for what else can you call it?). 

From Spiegel Online: Has Political Correctness Gone off the Rails in America?  by Philipp Oehmke.  The setting is Oberlin College in Ohio:

Places like Oberlin are the breeding grounds of the leftist elite Trump's people spoke so disparagingly of during the election campaign.


Oberlin students have a reputation for being notably "'left-leaning'".

There was a time that this resulted in protests against the Vietnam War.  Today it is a bit different:

In 2013, after a string of racially biased postings on campus, president Marvin Krislov cancelled classes in response to student demands and called for a day of reflection and change.

Oberlin is also known for its liberal attitude toward sexuality and gender expression. Oberlin was ranked among the 20 friendliest campuses for LGBT students in The Advocate's College Guide for LGBT Students.

Back to Spiegel and this sickness.  Oehmke offers many examples at Oberlin of manifestations of the disease; any one of these would cause me to disown children. 

He further identifies and defines many of the terms now in vogue, for example:

Safe Spaces: a “space that protects one from potentially insulting, injurious or traumatizing ideas or comments -- a place, in short, that protects one from the world.”

Microaggressions (someone tell Microsoft that spellcheck underlines this word in red): “the conceptual cousins of "safe spaces" -- small remarks perceived by the victims to be objectionable.”

Trigger warnings: “brief indicators placed before a text, image, film or work of art alerting the viewer or listener of the possibility that it could "trigger" memories of a traumatic experience or the recurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Cultural appropriation: when the cafeteria makes food from Africa that isn’t the way great-great-great-great-grandma made it.

Cultural imperialism: when the cafeteria makes food from Asia that isn’t the way great-great-great-great-grandma made it.

Allyship: the way a heterosexual white male can begin to make amends for his birth by demonstrating empathy for an incorrectly made sandwich.

Social justice warriors: “the guardians of political correctness.”

Oehmke cites Mark Lilla, a professor at Columbia University:

"The fixation on diversity in our schools and in the press has produced a generation of liberals and progressives narcissistically unaware of conditions outside their self-defined groups," he wrote.

Like I said, it is a sickness.

Conclusion

Whoops!  I almost forgot: so which actor in this tragicomedy is the author of the quote used as the title of my post?

Libertarianism is about getting to the platinum rule – which is where you treat other people the way they want to be treated.

-        Nicholas Sarwark, Libertarian Party Chairman (18th minute)

3 comments:

  1. For those of you that want to treat me in accordance with my desires:

    1. Please refer to me as "Your excellency"
    2. Prior to the start of any conversation I require a gift to be made. Nothing under 1oz of silver in value
    3. I have arbitrary safe space requirements that don't fit traditional American customs & values and I expect you to know what those are and abide by them
    4. Most importantly, I like to be routinely validated in a sincere manner upon the ending of any discussion.

    Thank you in advance to Mr. Sarwark and all those that subscribe to said philosophy.

    For the rest of you, I'd be happy if you just use my first name, Nick.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't get past your first "desire" without losing my coffee.

      Delete
    2. For starters:
      I want treated (My definition of trated is:automatically upgraded) to Business Class for all domestic flights and First Class for all international flights.

      and

      I want to be treated to free beer!!!!!


      Once we get these two it is up from there.

      Delete