How long has Glenn "Instaputz" Reynolds been writing for USA Today?
Nice hire, USA today! Was Ann Coulter unavailable?
Anyway, this was the headline today:
Okay, so before even reading a word of this article, you already know it's bullshit. You know no one was exiled from campus for voting for Trump. B ut let's go ahead and see what he says.
Donald Trump’s substantial victory,
(And by substantial, I mean losing the popular vote by over a million)
when most progressives expected a
Hillary Clinton landslide, came as a shock to many. That shock seems to
have been multiplied in academe, where few people seem to know any Trump
supporters — or, at least, any Trump supporters who’ll admit to it.
Right, because we all know how shy Trump supporters are about expressing their political views!
The phrase "shrinking violets" comes to mind.
The response to the shock has been to turn campuses into kindergarten. The University of Michigan Law School announced a ”post-election self-care”
event with “food" and "play,” including “coloring sheets, play dough
(sic), positive card-making, Legos and bubbles with your fellow law
students.”
Oh, come on! There is no way that. . . .
oh fer fuck sake! Seriously, Michigan?
Stanford emailed its students and faculty that psychological counseling was
available for those experiencing “uncertainty, anger, anxiety and/or
fear” following the election. So did the University of Michigan’s Flint campus.
Hmm. . . you mean a campus with a lot of Muslim students might somehow get the idea that its students were somehow afraid after the election of an anti-Muslim bigot with an army of rabid racist supporters? (oops, I mean "alt-right," not racist!)
Anyway, when do we get to the part about Trump supporters being expelled or whatever?
It’s easy to mock this as juvenile silliness — because, well, it is juvenile silliness of the sort documented in Frank Furedi’s What's Happened To The University? But
that’s not all it is. It’s also exactly what these schools purport to
abhor: an effort to marginalize and silence part of the university
community.
And marginalizing and silencing people is our bit, dammit!
In an email to students, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel wrote: “Our
responsibility is to remain committed to education, discovery and
intellectual honesty — and to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are at
our best when we come together to engage respectfully across our
ideological differences; to support all who feel marginalized,
threatened or unwelcome; and to pursue knowledge and understanding.”
Okay, so problem solved, right? You poor right-wingers aren't going to be marginalized or silenced after all. Right?
Or is that somehow not going to be enough?
--Rhetorical question. I know nothing is ever enough for you guys.
But when you treat an election in which the “wrong” candidate wins as a
traumatic event on a par with the 9/11 attacks, calling for counseling
and safe spaces, you’re implicitly saying that everyone who supported
that “wrong” candidate is, well, unsafe.
No. That's not what a "safe space" means. But you know that. It's not a place to hide from dangerous people who would do you violence. It's a place where sensitive people can go to. . .I don't know, not have racism and misogyny thrown in their faces?
Despite the talk about diversity and inclusion, this is really sending the signal that people who supported Trump — and Trump is leading the state of Michigan,
so there are probably quite a few on campus — aren’t really included in
acceptable campus culture. It’s not promoting diversity; it’s enforcing
uniformity. It’s not promoting inclusion; it’s practicing exclusion.
And though it pretends to be about nurturing, it’s actually about being
mean to those who don’t fall in the nurtured class.
Being mean?
They're being mean?!?!?!?
Oh nooo! Is the big, mean school administrators hurting your little feewings? Awwww. . .
You know, when you start out ridiculing the idea of students having their fears and sorrows accommodated on campus, it's pretty pathetic to segue directly into "Oh, they're being so mean to us! No fair!"
One of the basic tools of conservatism is the decrying of the "culture of victimization," but somehow they are always the first to claim the mantle of victimhood. It never fails. They are always being picked on by someone. the "liberal media" or "liberal Hollywood" or"liberal academia." Someone is always "silencing" them by daring to offer criticism or an opposing view. They play the victim role like Olivier playing Lear and somehow don't see a bit of irony.
A viral (and profane) YouTube rant by Jonathan Pie points out that this sort of fear and “othering” of political opponents is why Trump won
Yes, Trump did use fear and "othering" very effectively in his campaign. He stoked fear of lots of "others," for instance Mexicans, Muslims,
No, I know. that's not what you meant.
God, the projection is strong in this one!
Pie’s right to tell people that they should engage in discussion rather
than dismissal of people they disagree with, and colleges and
universities should listen to him.
You can't mock and ridicule people who think differently than you and then turn around and complain that THEY aren't willing to engage with people they disagree with. Oh, wait, You're a conservative. Of course you can.
