a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
kleinbl00  ·  2591 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: “Microaggressions”, “Trigger Warnings”, and the New Meaning of “Trauma”

    Is it not one's responsibility to handle one's reaction to the world?

In real life, for sure. But we're not talking about real life, we're talking about academia. Think of it as a Pokemon battle:

Professorsaur uses academic dominance

STUDENTIZARD IS DISCOURAGED

Studentizard uses minority status

It's super-effective! PROFESSORSAUR IS WITCHHUNTED

Professorsaur uses appeal to common sense

common sense doesn't work here

"Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low."

- Sayre's Law

These kids (they're kids) will make their way out into the world and they'll notice their coworker in Cubicleville asked them if they've ever been to Europe. And they'll get their hackles up and then they'll realize that should they so much as open their pie hole, not only will HR not recognize "poor" as a protected ethnic group (after all, you got a damn bachelor's degree so STFU), but that they'll be marked for death by three different levels of managers, a couple different coworker pools and be known as that guy from shipping to IT because out here in the world ain't nobody got time for that shit.

But in that halcion vale where a substantial portion of the populace still lives in a dormatory? Fuckin' eldritch magic, yo. When the entire social structure is contrived and where the overwhelming drive for student engagement is "entitlement"... I mean, I'm surprised it took as long for these terms to evolve as it did.