Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Dear Yale victims, er, students: You have offended me





How unfortunate that I'm going from describing the pure joy of walking the US Naval Academy grounds to recounting the pathetic display seen on the Yale campus of late.

I cannot even believe what I'm hearing or seeing in these videos. And yet, I can, because this is where politically correct, "progressive" ideology leads. It's so predictable, but still surreal.

Okay, for the backstory on the Yale... thing (I cannot for the life of me think of a word to describe it), you can go here. But essentially, there's a big controversy about Halloween in liberal America (of which I was blissfully unaware, since I live in regular America), and costumes must conform to politically correct standards.

At Yale this year, that dictate took the form of an email from the "Intercultural Affairs Council", which includes many culturally sensitive "centers" and "offices" (including the Office of LGBTQ Resources and the Office of Gender and Campus Culture, which makes me wonder, why does Yale need two offices to cover sex-and-gender needs? But I digress...). This email stressed the "growing national concern on campuses everywhere" [!!!!] about "culturally unaware or insensitive choices" of Halloween costumes by "some" college students.

Apparently, a few students who still possess the actual ability to access their human reason expressed frustration about the email to Erika Christakis, associate master of Yale’s Silliman College, and she wrote a response email that was about as inoffensive and innocuous as a fluffy kitty, agreeing with the calls for "cultural sensitivity" in Halloween costumes, but also gently suggesting that it's an issue for the (presumably mature and capable) students to work out amongst themselves, and that perhaps it was not the place of university officials to tell the students what they should wear for Halloween.

And then, after this reasonable, polite, friendly, and non-threatening email came through, all hell broke loose, apparently (and this is just a guess) because the cultural elites of the left (including these privileged Ivy League kids) have lost their ever-loving minds.

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad email from an obviously very bad lady (who is married to Nicholas Christakis, the very nasty, mean, and unsafe man in the videos you are about to see) is linked at the end of this paragraph. I wanted to give you fair warning so that you can be prepared and get your smelling salts, or perhaps your best friend (or your mommy) and lay down. The evil email led to the man practically emasculating himself trying to appease the distraught offendees, although the very bad man refuses ultimately to apologize for his wife's evil, hateful words, which have decimated the students' "safe space". The violent wrenching away of the students' "safe space" prompted the very Dean of Yale to come out to where the students had "chalked" (yes, chalked!) their "affirmations", and he listened lovingly "for almost two hours" to their "profound pain", watching "every tear that was shed". Yes, the offending email was that bad. Are you ready for it? Are you sure? Okay, but I warned you, it shocks the conscience!! Read the evil in its fullness, here.

I know, right? Like, <<shudder>>. Who can bear it?

And if you can't believe how offensive and monstrous was that letter, please turn now to the actual videos of the victims themselves, who were so callously trodden upon by those big, bad, mean words, and watch how the bad lady's husband was summarily castrated chastised. And yes, that is SNAPPING you hear instead of applause at some points, because apparently, in the Land of Sensitivity, snapping is less jarring and less anxiety-producing than clapping. (No, I'm not kidding, but I wish I were.)


Video #1, wherein the professor, who had already talked with the students for over an hour, defends himself against charges of racism for failing to remember one of his 500 students' names:




As we continue on our cringeworthy adventure at Yale, a seemingly intelligent student is mourning the loss of her "safe space" as others snap-snap-snap their approval, supporting one another with caresses and hugs. Many seem on the verge of despair. This very bad man is not "hearing their pain", after all:



This one is super painful to watch, since I'm guessing that this liberal professor is actually a bit freaked out by how completely unreasonable these students are, how they are unable to grasp his very basic and logical points. Oh the irony, as these kids were raised up on leftist ideology, and somehow the professors never saw this coming?   [UPDATE: Looks like this video has been removed and is no longer available. Sorry!]



Aaaaand we get to the climax, where this young woman (pray for her), loses it completely:



At this point, I think it's the Yale student-victims who have violated my safe space! My brain will never be the same.


Even The Atlantic got it right:
In “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argued that too many college students engage in “catastrophizing,” which is to say, turning common events into nightmarish trials or claiming that easily bearable events are too awful to bear. After citing examples, they concluded, “smart people do, in fact, overreact to innocuous speech, make mountains out of molehills, and seek punishment for anyone whose words make anyone else feel uncomfortable.” 
What Yale students did next vividly illustrates that phenomenon. 
According to The Washington Post, “several students in Silliman said they cannot bear to live in the college anymore.” These are young people who live in safe, heated buildings with two Steinway grand pianos, an indoor basketball court, a courtyard with hammocks and picnic tables, a computer lab, a dance studio, a gym, a movie theater, a film-editing lab, billiard tables, an art gallery, and four music practice rooms. But they can’t bear this setting that millions of people would risk their lives to inhabit because one woman wrote an email that hurt their feelings?
Read the rest of the brilliant piece, here.

While it may be hard to distinguish the Yale videos from an SNL skit, here is an actual parody that someone showed me just hours before I'd even heard of the Yale incidents. I think you will appreciate the similarities:






If you liked that parody (even if it did terrify you at the same time it amused you), then you will like the one that came before it:




Folks, we either have to laugh or we will cry.

My advice to those of you who are as disgusted and horrified as I am: Be courageous. Speak up. Never stop exposing nonsense, because in the end, your voice of reason will help to rescue the nonsense-makers themselves, who will almost surely spiral down to a pit of despair if they keep on the road they're going.

Pray for them all to regain their spines and their guts and their sense, and then for your own sanity, go back and read about Annapolis, or read the heroic life of a saint, and feel better.

God's got this.



60 comments:

  1. How awesome would it have been if someone pulled up in a mud-bogging monster truck – offensively loud engine roaring-- and an air horn, at that student gathering? And when they started "snapping", just blow the hell outta that siren, 'Whhhhiiiirrrrrrr!” I'd pay money to see that. Yale reeks of entitlement and insanity.

    And that Modern Educayshun video is hilarious and sadly true. So many great lines in that video. It reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Lisa goes to the all-boys math class to be challenged because in the all-girls class the math teacher asked incredulous questions like, "How do numbers make you feel? What does a plus sign smell like?" And when Lisa directly asks if they’re actually going to do any actual solving of questions, the teacher snaps something like, "Oh, Lisa, just like a male! Approaching math problems as if they're something to be attacked and solved!" It is so hilarious and sad.

    Interesting when at the end of the video the new white girl walks in. She has +1 privilege point right off the bat, but probably loses points due to her (assumed) straight sexuality, right?

    And that last video, “We don’t eat food anymore. It’s offensive.” Hilarious!
    Someone should line these guys up on the blue line and teach them to block slap 80mph shots off the shins… toughen ‘em right up.

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    1. * block 80mph slapshots

      Leila- this reminds me of the current whining going on by female athletes who make millions off endorsements, but they're mad that people "only see" their "looks" over their talent? Huh? Um, women look at dudes, too. It's pretty equal. Stop whining, you've got talent and beauty and you're making bank. They're making $ off their looks, if they are paid to promote any cosmetic products (which lots of female athletes do!)

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  2. Someone pointed out a while ago that, in his (privileged white male) opinion, the reason we accept lies from politicians is because we have accepted the ultimate lie that it is alright to kill innocent unborn human beings. Everyone knows that it is evil to kill a baby, and I will say that every person who argues otherwise on this blog knows it. But if we tell ourselves that we must accept the lie that killing babies is sometimes alright, then what difference does it make what other lies we accept?

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  3. Oh, this makes my head hurt!

    What frightens me even more is that these students, these young "adults", are being groomed to go out into corporations, schools, and other institutions where their indoctrination will infiltrate society even further.

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  4. Johanne, amen. I would love to know what your friends on the left thing of this. I just read a piece in Time that had a female writer (a Yale grad) defending these babies in the most eloquent and sympathetic ways:

    http://time.com/4108632/yale-controversy-belonging/?xid=homepage

    I mean, seriously? What has happened to us! Dear Lord, my dad came here as an Arab immigrant, from war zones, not speaking much English and knowing not a soul. He stuck out like a sore thumb. And somehow, he managed to be grateful, happy, and get a medical degree! And he's a patriot,one of the many veterans we saluted yesterday. A patriot and a survivor.

    These little babies "don't feel like they belong"?? Oh, boo hoo.

    Blech.

    Anyway, Sharon, I agree with you! Donna, you are right. That shrieking girl is 1) female (until she changes her mind), 2) black, 3) A Yalie. So, companies will be competing to put her on the payroll and given her a privileged position high up. God help us is right.

    Nubby, so true!! And the "snapping" thing was what killed my sister. She is not feeling well after our trip (she has a chronic illness) and she was laughing so hard at the "snapping" that she started to cough more and her chest hurts.

    Lord, come to our aid!

    And for all the disgust I feel for the kids' actions, let us pray that they will find peace, joy, and Truth one day. They need it. Where they are mentally and emotionally, is no place to be. :(

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  5. Dying of laughter! My husband just said: "If I were the parent, I would withdraw my child immediately and say, 'you're going to work at Wendy's'!" Amen, Dean!

    And for the record, the shrieky young woman is from an upperclass town in Connecticut. A child of privilege. Poor baby, can't hack it at Yale after her life of comfort. Sorry, I'm being mean now. But oh my gosh, seriously?

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  6. And did you notice how that professor in the video actually squats down several times when he is trying desperately to meet their little minds, almost as if he is talking to small children, trying to get down to their level? It's just sad.

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  7. From the conclusion of the Time article:

    "If there is a hopeful sign in the fury and despair expressed by Yale’s minority students, it is that they want and expect to belong to the university in the first place. Their anger is the anger of a promise betrayed. These students are not the consumerists of popular caricature, looking to buy a diploma and four years of hedonistic fun; nor are they cynical and disaffected. They yearn to belong, to feel deeply connected to this institution that has let them in, but only so far. Now Yale has to hold up its side of the compact—extending its pageant of fellow feeling to all the students it admits."

    emphasis mine. Is this a parody, too? Do these people really take themselves seriously? I'm wondering if they laugh behind close doors about this, or are they truly, really, weeping tears of sorrow for these poor, disaffected Yale students who can't handle an email that might gently pose an alternate view?

    UGH! Anyway, I have preschool parent teacher conference now. I might have to have some fun and talk about Matthew's sense of angst and disbelonging, since a little classmate once roared at him like a dinosaur, ha ha!

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    1. College isn't what the movies make it out to be. I bet Ivy league is similar. What if all these people have a different picture of what college *should* be like or what it "is" like to a white male... I'm not saying their isn't discrimination in the world, but some of the injustice felt is comparing what people are experiencing to what is believed to be other's experience. *sigh.* What if the protesters actually think that their "others" experience a sense of home and safety at college? Maybe we should find a way to show that college is not a home, it's a ground to get out of your comfort zone and explore new ideas.

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  8. Ok, that screaming student in the last video... OMG-- someone fetch her a brown paper bag so she can breathe!
    The guy's face is like, "Take your emotional stupidity 50 yrds OutMaFace b4 I give you something to cry about!" Yet he puts up with it so patiently.

    Their emotional constitution is a sub-zero level. Adulting like a boss at Yale, I see. Is this how they turn out their graduates?

    Is Yale proud to be an apparent cesspool of emotional wussies? Sorry, it's really the height of stupidity to think these "intelligent" students are supremely rattled over a Halloween costume email. You're kidding me, right? I mean, we're not talking a major issue like a violation of civil rights or even a violation of conscience, here. It's. About. Freaking. Halloween. Costumes. These babies need their mid-day nappies.

    Has no one ever challenged their thoughts before or even told them "no, I won't coddle your every whim"? I find that people who've never been told "no" or have never been intellectually challenged cannot handle real life situations that don't require much beyond a shrug and a sane, "I see your point" response. Might be the case here...

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  9. Yes, that young lady has lost it. She is a young woman of privilege (some have looked up her background), but she seems to get the vapors if presented with an opinion other than her own. Also, she screams about "who hired you??!!!!" and it's been revealed that she was on the selection committee that hired him. snort.

    Oh, if she were my daughter. I would either get her into psychological care immediately, or (verbally) smack her (gently) upside the head (I'm trying to be PC so that no one faints reading this).

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  10. I started cracking up at the snapping bit. That's exactly what I do when I want my kids' attention for them to pipe down when they start getting rambunctious. Bring out the snap! "Snap, snap, snap, click, click, click--- Hey! Heyyy! Shhhhh! Quiet down!!"

    Tooooooo funny.

    it's been revealed that she was on the selection committee that hired him. snort. Haaawwwww!
    Wonder what her major is. I'm betting anything it's Psychology. lol

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  11. The worst is when a young woman says that Yale is a home, not a learning institution. Sorry, come again? Isn't college explicitly supposed to be a learning institution?

    For those who've been out of college awhile, I will say that this nonsense is pretty new. I was in college from 2005-2009, and this would never have happened. Someone would have laughed these clowns off stage.

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  12. everything I read nowadays makes me so glad I went to college near on 15 years ago. From the skyrocketing costs to the rigid, narrow educational landscape to the weird cultural policing and the depressing, lovelorn dating environment, it just all sounds so suffocating and bleak.

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  13. I wonder how many of them would be protesting the "sexy nun" costumes in the Halloween store.....

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  14. "The worst is when a young woman says that Yale is a home, not a learning institution. Sorry, come again? Isn't college explicitly supposed to be a learning institution?"

    Sarah, in her defense (I can't believe I am defending any part of her tantrum), the Silliman thing is the place where they live, and apparently, this man and his wife are the "masters" of the living quarters. So, they help provide that "safe space" or a little cocoon for the fragile little Yalies. But since they specifically choose PROFESSORS to live their in the home area, that shows that we can bring our intellect (and not just our feelings) to the Silliman "space", no? It's an institution of higher learning, and isn't "everything" a "classroom" so to speak?

    Heidi, exactly. I like the email that everyone is so freaked out about, because she makes that point: No one is too concerned about offending the deeply religious on the campus, with skimpy costumes. She made the point gently, so as not to upset the fragile students.

    My dad was so sickened by it, as he waved a magazine that showed relief efforts in the Middle East, where he's from. Some of those people live on two dollars a day! That is called hard life! These kids are so weak.

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  15. Tia, yes, me too! I went to college about 26 years ago now, in the '80s, and it was pretty much debauchery then. Drunkenness, drugs, casual sex. But now? It's so much worse. There is not even a moral framework. I feel like back then we at least knew we were doing something wrong and not noble. But today? Nope. And combine it with the whole normalization of homosexual acts (I was shocked to hear that even heterosexual high school kids are having anal sex with each other very regularly!), and the hook-up culture (no normal dating at all!) and this coddling of the students. It's like we are in the Twilight Zone and cannot get out! Wait, we can get out! Turn back to truth, goodness, and beauty. Boom, we are back! :)

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  16. Ummmm......what did I just watch?!?!?? That shrieking girl is soooo tolerant and respectful of her professor/Master! Whatever happened to manners and respect especially towards those in authority?? God help us!

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  17. This reminds me of the short story "Harrison Bergeron." I weep for the future.

    [Side note about snapping instead of clapping: I was never a member of a sorority, but I've heard of sororities snapping instead of clapping at meetings. My understanding is that it's a way to show approval without dragging things out - if everybody claps, the speaker has to wait for the clapping to stop so that she can be heard, but if everybody snaps, the speaker can keep going without having to wait for the audience to finish applauding.]

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  18. Apparently, Halloween is much too scary for these Yalie kids, and they should wait until they are older to participate in activities. The early childhood education lady should have written the email in simple language early readers can understand. Maybe she should have written in rhyme with colorful pictures of talking animals wearing clothes.

    Sure I did my fair sure of complaining when I went to college until I learned to enjoy it. Yep, there were lots of aspects of college life that I had to adjust to.
    If we wanted to be safe in college, we locked our doors ad walked in pairs at night.

    Do they not have enough homework to do over there?


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  19. CS asked me to post this for her, as she wasn't able to post it herself (and by Stillmans, I think she meant to say the Christakises):

    Mehhhhh,


    There's a couple things to consider here. The first is that Yale is a residential college system. Each college system is supposed to be a home for the students and the masters are responsible, in part for making that happen. Yale is a private institution that charges students upwards of $50k a year to attend IN PART for that safe space so it IS comfortable.

    At my university, students boycotted and protested the appearance of several conservative speakers. Some protests were successful and other were not. Its absurd to say the 'protesters couldn't handle other views, rather students did not want to PAY money to bring into their community views that they believed were destructive to their community. There is nothing illogical about that. You'd respect Georgetown students' decision to protest the university's decision to pay Cecile Richard several thousand to speak. Its the same thing.

    This is unlike any other employment situation. The Stillmans are being PAID by the students, they work for them in many ways. The students have buying power and they are trying to use it for their cause, something every single group of people does. Many Christians boycott Starbucks, and that is their right, they just don't have the buying power to bring down starbucks, the students do.

    Secondly, the Stillman's seem like very nice people. However, people are talking past each other and as a result the real message is getting lost by people under and over reacting to something.

    This isn't about Halloween costumes. Its about blackface. Its about having your house mother and father, going out of their way to say 'if you want to wear black face, don't let anyone stop you'. That isssss a problem. Its a problem that IS frustrating for the administrators themselves to not understand that. Were there better responses, and genuine opportunities for dialogue, absolutely. But implying that students shouldn't feel 'unsafe' in an environment that tacitly endorses blackface.....is at least half of the problem


    CS

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  20. CS: But then, by saying that conservative thinkers are not welcome on a (let's say secular or "regular") college campus, then are you agreeing, then, that only liberal views are welcome and only liberal views should be heard? If the students on these campuses don't have professors or speakers who can give any other view from the leftist one, how will they be educated fully?

    On Catholic campuses, speakers with leftist views are welcome constantly. And the only "rule" (which most Catholic campuses ignore anyway) is that pro-aborts may not be given accolades and awards and platforms that might be seen as an endorsement of their pro-abort or anti-Catholic positions.

    Sounds like you are actually confirming that students and faculty only want to hear leftist voices on campuses today. That is what many of us have been arguing all along, and it's very sad.

    I have ZERO sympathy for the Yale toddlers (and oh please, no one is "tacitly endorsing blackface"). I mean, do you REALLY, TRULY believe that cushy little Yale is an "unsafe" place where our future leaders simply crumble at the first sign of someone suggesting that they might want to confront offense themselves and not faint in the process?

    Look at what the student/faculty response was to the innocuous email lauding free speech:

    http://downatyale.com/post.php?id=430

    "invalidating our existence"?

    Uhhh?

    And this:


    "We were told to meet the offensive parties head on, without suggesting any modes or means to facilitate these discussions to promote understanding."

    Um, you need your mommies and daddies and professors to help you suggest modes or means to confront conflict (if someone wears a Halloween costume that offends you)? OMGosh. Seriously. I can't even.

    What has happened to this generation? I don't even have any words for my horror.

    And read the last paragraph of the letter I linked. I just... I can't... I don't even... I am flabbergasted.

    I repeat: We have lost our ever-loving minds.

    I don't think the younger generation (well, many of them) can even understand how far we have fallen just in the last decade or two. It's surreal.


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  21. "Its about having your house mother and father, going out of their way to say 'if you want to wear black face, don't let anyone stop you'."

    ^^ That, CS, is a complete and utter misrepresentation of her email. Everyone is free to read her email linked in the article. And if you found that sentiment there, then we are reading two divergent letters. What you claim was asserted was not even implied.

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  22. "Dialogue" about what exactly, CS? It's a non-conversation. Did you not hear the Dean himself? He said, "I hear your complaints. I do not agree with them." Repeat: "I hear you. But I do not agree." The man stood there for 2 hrs. listening to their diatribe. How's that for "dialogue"??

    How, in the name of sanity, is this such a vile, objectionable response - especially with someone physically screaming in his face, demanding an interaction, but showing herself fully incapable of reasoning? Her reaction isn't objectionable and vile? She can't just engage the man respectfully? She's at Yale, and she's that inept? CS, don't you agree that a person cannot implode at her super, her team leader, or her boss, on the job like that in real life? You don't think that student in the last video needs to get herself a set of conversational problem solving skills so that she can navigate the harsher realities of life outside the bubble wrap of Ivy League college?

    It's beyond childish. It's a non-issue that some immature hyper-sensitive students wanted to make into an issue because they made the direct effort to get offended. He gave them the opportunity to handle their own emotions about Halloween, and lo and behold, they collapsed because they chose to get offended. They actually put the effort in. Unreal.

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  23. Nubby, you nailed it. It's only "dialogue", in the minds of the left if and when the other side capitulates and agrees to all demands. THEN, it's proper "dialogue", apparently.

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  24. Nubby! Oh my gosh, watch this. I can't get these eight minutes of my life back. But oh my gosh, I can't even.... I am just.... I can't....

    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/11/12/watch-million-student-march-natl-organizer-stumped-on-how-to-pay-for-free-college-and-debt-forgiveness/


    This is the caliber of our university students? Oh.my.head.

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    1. Ok. I'll give it a look-see. Can hardly wait to be dazzled by the brilliance...

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  25. Exactly. And to CS’s point about this being some kind of controversy going unjustly un-discussed: CS should reconsider the fact that the man came out to publicly greet students and discuss this issue. And yet this is not good enough because he didn’t somehow adequately validate their feelings as they expected? The fact that he showed up publicly, and gave legitimate response to their concerns doesn’t justify adequate respect for this man? Screaming at him is socially responsible and promotes intelligent dialogue? Just how is his response so objectionable?

    CS and these students have no argument because the University is not endorsing unsafe places or non-family feelings. How did those two ideas even get on the radar? How does one possibly tie those up?

    There’s no maligning of people on campus because of Halloween costumes. No forcing people to the fringe, or even forcing them to wear or endorse anything. What possible agenda would a prestigious institution like Yale be pushing? Obviously, they’d only get bad press if they did any promoting of blackface. Does CS really think there’s a conspiracy against the student body going on? That’s really intelligent on Yale’s end (not), if that’s what they’re doing -- which they are not doing.

    What possible motive would Yale be operating under in order to focus bad press on themselves? Do people like CS think that Yale really wants to draw a racist controversy by discussing face paint? The topic of racism is so highly-charged, and she perhaps thinks Yale is all about wanting this?

    This whole escapade served merely as a platform for overly-emotional, rather childish students to whine, stammer, and eventually scream at the Dean who took it like a champ for 2 hrs. They owe him an apology.

    If he has the decency to publicly meet with them, then they owe him more than shouting him down and snapping fingers in his face.

    And to this idea of “family” at college, please. I attended two large secular and well known universities. I never “expected” a “family atmosphere” when I showed up to my classes or even when I met other students in my dorms. Even the RA’s on my floors never fostered “family”. They basically just made sure we weren’t stumbling around drunk or playing music too loudly.

    I lived on a co-ed floor, for heaven’s sake. Knock-knock! Hi, it’s me! Come in! Easy-peasy. Lots of stuff went on. There wasn’t a mandate of a “safe place” by students. It was assumed we were all there for the same thing—safety was only a concern if we were off campus or frat partying.

    It’s a pampered mindset and overly needy expectation that these students have, expecting a University that is so large and prestigious to kowtow to this idea. I’m sure a more family-type atmosphere can be found at their local, small-clown, non-regionally-accredited college, if that’s what they want. It’s Yale, for God’s sake.

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  26. I just dropped 45 IQ points and glitched out during that verbal assault on my brain. Now I'll never get into Yale!

    Question 1 of 100: Why in the HECK did he have this chick on? Why the air time for such an asinine idea? 90% taxes to pay for her idea?? And then she doesn't even realize that when she extrapolates out her brilliant plan it will be HER generation paying 90% for college? What even .... I feel so completely stoooopid right now, having absorbed all of that mental litter. Just like. We're breathing oxygen, right? Or are we breathing laughing gas?

    I want to walk into the local college here and just announce, "IQ tests and a # 2 pencil for everyone. Ready-- Go!"

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  27. And, yeah, Keely, let's punish the 1% and get them choked down to pay for every joe blow to attend college and get a worthless degree like... basket making and since we've taxed everyone to death who has money, there will be no investments being put into the economy -- because taxes killed them! -- and therefore, your brilliant college kids won't have jobs, because the economy will be strangled and suffocated and all the jobs will be in India and China. Grrrrreat plan. Punish the wealthy. No flippin way. How about you let the wealthy create and stimulate the economy to keep the "corporate set up" of colleges in place so that do-do's like this can actually attend because there's been an investment made. Oh my gah. Just pass the glass, I'd rather eat it than have to consider this anymore...

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  28. Yes!

    Nubby, don't you just wish you could have a few hours to take her to lunch and hold her hand and talk to her gently and explain things? Or don't you wish you had a few hours to yell at her mother for allowing her daughter to get to this level of ... un-wise-ness? (I do.)

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  29. Who let this girl go on national tv this unprepared with her ideas about the economy, about taxes, about basic logic, and math, about college education in general?

    I mean, it is cringe-worthy. I almost feel bad for her. But she wanted the air time to promote her march and these ideas... Then, think it through, for God's sake, Keely, before you take it to a national stage. Didn't anyone brief or prep this girl for the kinds of questions she'd be getting asked by tv hosts? It's like when someone gives a really bad presentation in class and you're just cringing along with them until the teacher has mercy and stops them.

    I mean, she's promoting socialism. And yet, she doesn't even apparently understand that the govt is broke and getting more broke so they can't rescue the system. And you can't turn on the wealthy and tax them to death, because they are the ones that keep the investments humming along so that there is basic monetary stimulation and growth for our country-- which is a GOOD thing. You cannot punish them by taxing them more. There will be no money left to sink into the economy and we'll be sunk as a nation! She's basically all for taxing rich people into a strangle-hold and forcing a sky high unemployment rate. Lovely. I mean, who let this girl run with these incoherent and incomplete ideas? Teachers, parents? Are all they all this intellectually derailed?

    Doesn't she see that we are a nation where taxes are not the answer because that tax money doesn't go 100% for what it's supposed to anyway?
    Doesn't she see that the govt cannot ever break even in any department they run? And she wants to give them more tax money?
    And how do we forgive debt when the money has to be repaid? Especially paid back to the ones that paid into it (the rich) that she drove into poverty with her tax plan (hello!!!)
    She has no money stimulating anything at the end of the day... mY Gooooooohhh

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  30. I know feel kind of bad for the comments I made above, but not so bad to redact them. I was a very sensitive person, and as an adult met with various experts on how to disagree and express myself in a respectful way. I am still learning because I am still living. Actually Mr. Masters Person is modeling how to do that. Looks like the guy actually has a spine. I thought Mrs. Master person wrote the letter the students didn't like, so why should Mr. apologize for her? She's responsible for her own actions, and he's responsible for his own actions because they are grown-ups. There are some places where you do have to set standards on Halloween costumes like in the workplace. What people do in their private time is a different story. If you are offended by someone, speak to the person. Maybe, just maybe, they didn't intend to offend or never thought about it from a different perspective. Then the people involved may have a better understanding of each other and grow a little bit as a human. On the other hand, some people are just mean, close-minded people full of hate. If you want comfort in a dorm be part of a committee that provides little comforts. Be a good friend. Go to workshops and classes for tips and coping skills. Learn conflict resolution skills. Little by little you learn how to play in the adult sandbox. And if you are a student and want to swear at a staff or faculty member, for goodness sakes, wait until after graduation.

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  31. What will these young adults do when out in the real world, which - I assume - is what they are hoping to prepare for at college? Who is supposed to step in and protect their feelings wherever they go in life? And are they ready to face the same music when they wear something, say something, or do something that hurts someone else's feelings or makes them feel less comfortable in their "space"? (A problem at least one of those women will likely face, given her propensity to scream profanities at people she disagrees with.)

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  32. Lena, I couldn't agree more. And Jennifer, I honestly believe that those in the "liberal bubble" will continue to get coddled and play by the PC rules. That girl at the end is a minority, a woman, a Yale grad. She will get any job she wants and they will tiptoe around her. It's truly sickening, but I believe many, many workplaces are all about making things a PC "safe space" (except for religious folks or conservatives). But then life will happen to her (something that she cannot control, like all the consequences of bad choices and sin, for example, or a death of a loved one, or just plain existential angst), and I think you are on to something... she will fall apart. And then God can move in, hopefully, if she let's him.

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  33. That letter was so incredibly respectful of the students' choices and admin not stepping in to control them.... I too do not get the outrage. CS referenced blackface.... which is not cool. But again, no one would step in to 'control' a sexy nun. If I saw someone in blackface, I would confront them and many I know would and eventually, they would stop. Its 2015. They shouldn't be in it but thats besides the point. Even a teacher would kick a kid out... it would just stop. But outrage is allowed to grow if you're the right person. And in a way thats more about personal attention and NOT the issue at hand.

    I am on a boycott of Doritos at the moment which is UNPLEASANT. These have been my junk for du jour for decades. I kid you not. Doritos produced a bag of rainbow colored chips you could buy for $10 and all proceeds went to Dan Savage's 'it gets better foundation.' You didn't see crying protests; you do hear about people boycotting Frito Lay, and in fact their company stock (under the PEPSICO umbrella) has taken a decline in the last few months... because of the protest? IDK. But companies like pepsico don't typically decline and it usually takes a strong hand to pry doritos from my cold dead ones. I digress. My point? We boycotters are taking silent action, not causing a fuss or bringing attention to ourselves just to bring attention. We're taking action. And its working.

    (BTW, nothing wrong with helping kids who want to commit suicide to get better. OTher groups do that and EVERY company donates to GLAAD and other homosexual-affiliated orgs so I have no illusions. HOWEVER, Dan Savage, the owner of the group, spews hate at everyone who disagrees with him, however mildly. And the hate is often laced with profanity that I can't even repeat and I used to swear like a sailor!!! That they partnered specifically with this man is at issue.)

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  34. After last nights attacks in Paris, anyone using the word victim as the students do should be... well, ashamed to say the least.

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  35. Monica, regarding both your comments, you said it well. Thank you.

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  36. This topic just saddens me, but I had nothing new to contribute to this discussion – until I read these words tonight while at the adoration chapel:

    “Addiction to freedom is a revolt of the self against any construction of the world that demands respect or piety. (p11) Acedia has become a cultural reality; nestled deep in the roots of our ways of acting and living, sloth seeps into our loves and lives in virtually every domain, before finally transforming itself into boredom and nihilism. (p61)

    In sloth, we abhor what is there; we abhor what is; we abhor limits, place, order, being. Our misguided addiction to freedom without truth is a revolt of the self against any charged world which might demand attendance, care, obligation, or respect, and certainly any mandate of working to fill God’s beautiful kingdom. These are seen as insufferable demands, as illegitimate restrictions of our unbridled freedom, and so we find ourselves hating the place God has provided, the work God has given us, and the proper ways of laboring. Given this disgust and hatred of the truth of being, we are stricken with acedia, … a loathing of truth.” (p63)

    --- Acedia and Its Discontents, by R.J. Snell

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  37. DNBA, whoa! That is stunning! That pretty much explains things. Wow.

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  38. From CS (who asked me to post for her until she gets a new account set up):

    "Sounds like you are actually confirming that students and faculty only want to hear leftist voices on campuses today. That is what many of us have been arguing all along, and it's very sad."

    I'm saying people are against using their own money to pay for people to espouse views they believe are vehemently wrong. If Georgetown paid Cecile Richard to come to campus and people boycotted, I wouldn't see a problem with that. I assume they would welcome a pro-choice person to dialog on campus who wasn't being paid tens of thousands of dollars. Its the same with liberal campuses and I don't see why it should be any different.

    "I have ZERO sympathy for the Yale toddlers (and oh please, no one is "tacitly endorsing blackface"). I mean, do you REALLY, TRULY believe that cushy little Yale is an "unsafe" place where our future leaders simply crumble at the first sign of someone suggesting that they might want to confront offense themselves and not faint in the process?"

    Ok, then why are the students protesting. If this is about Halloween costumes, what costumes are the students upset over, Winnie the Poo? Leopards? What costumes were the administration initially talking about.

    Leila, just last week or so, black female students at Yale were denied access to a party because the frat only wanted to admit white girls. You are reading the word unsafe as these students thinking they are going to die on campus, no they don't think because they are denied access to parties and have to witness over students in black face that is going to kill them, they do believe those actions especially if they are sanctioned by the university send a very strong message that Yale isn't for people like them and is hostile. They aren't crumbling they are protesting.


    And my response to CS:

    CS, first, I don't think that the Yale students were protesting speakers? I think they were protesting their liberal masters (that is the name of the married couple who lives in housing with them, for those who think I am just being sarcastic). The man in the video and the woman who wrote the "bad" email... they are liberals! So, I ask you: Was that email so horrifying (did you read it?) that the students had to emotionally fall apart? (And yes, they were crumbling, not "protesting" only). If you listen to the exchanges between the man and the students, they are asking him to apologize. I repeat: They are asking HIM to apologize. For what? He wasn't barring any black people from anywhere. He wasn't proposing blackface, and in fact he is totally on their side about how awful that would be. What do they want him to apologize for (and they are crying and losing their minds about)? For his wife's email! Did you read the email? What about that email needs to be apologized for (sorry for my bad syntax, but you get the question, I hope)? What is it in that email that is so offensive to these very fragile students? Please, I want to know. The email is linked in the OP, so you can pull out quotes. Thanks!

    (One last thought: When I was in 7th grade, I had a racist science teacher who had a tendency to scream at us when we got unruly and say, "YOU ALL ARE ACTING LIKE A BUNCH OF A-RABS!!!!" Now, was it offensive? Yep. Did I crumble? Nope. Back then, we were a bit stronger, I guess? Was he right to say it? Of course not! And by the way, he was a good science teacher. What he said was much more offensive than what was in that email.



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  39. And from CS To Nubby:

    Nubby,

    "Her reaction isn't objectionable and vile? She can't just engage the man respectfully? She's at Yale, and she's that inept? CS, don't you agree that a person cannot implode at her super, her team leader, or her boss, on the job like that in real life? You don't think that student in the last video needs to get herself a set of conversational problem solving skills so that she can navigate the harsher realities of life outside the bubble wrap of Ivy League college?"

    But Nubby, she isn't in the real world, and she knows it. She isn't talking to her boss that way, hell, She is kind of HIS boss as she pays his salary and she knows that too. I don't think she's inept, I think shes a 20 year old who got upset and yelled in a situation she knew she could yell at. You pay to go to Yale at work your boss pays you, big difference.

    Yale isn't a large state school it is SUPPOSED to feel like a home.If you visit Yale and schools like it they market themselves that way. I recently graduated and your are encouraged actively by the school, 'if you do not like something change it.' If something doesn't feel good to you change it, if we don't offer something you like, lobby for us to offer it and we will' Colleges ARE accommodating. they market themselves that way, they are not workplaces. If you have a problem with colleges marketing themselves that way fine, but its not fair to demonize the students for acting in ways generally encouraged by the college itself.


    (Leila here: Oh my gosh, I do have an issue with the colleges as well as the students. No doubt about that. But I'll let Nubby take it.)

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  40. But Nubby, she isn't in the real world, and she knows it. She isn't talking to her boss that way, hell, She is kind of HIS boss as she pays his salary and she knows that too. I don't think she's inept, I think shes a 20 year old who got upset and yelled in a situation she knew she could yell at. You pay to go to Yale at work your boss pays you, big difference.

    ?

    She pays his salary outright, huh? This is your logic? Kind of like how we pay policemen’s salary, so it’s okay to shout in their face? Like, “I owwwnnn you!” ??

    This is the etiquette of young Americans? And, because, according to you, she’s “not in the real world” this is a pass to just freak out and verbally rant in her dean’s face? How about she grows up and shows that she is actually prepared to deal with what’s real and what isn’t?

    It’s about respecting the man as a dean and as a human being. Ironically, it’s the same kind of respect she was demanding… by screaming in his face. Lovely approach. She owes him an apology for her nauseating rant. Making a public spectacle and losing a grip on her emotions warrants that much. I am perplexed that you seemingly disagree with that basic human decency. Is it only decent when the “right” kinds of people are doing the yelling?

    Colleges ARE accommodating. they market themselves that way, they are not workplaces. If you have a problem with colleges marketing themselves that way fine, but its not fair to demonize the students for acting in ways generally encouraged by the college itself.

    Yale enrollment is approximately 12,000 and it’s an NCAA Division I school (which means there are large program budgets, modern facilities, and many, many scholarships awarded). That is not “small”. It’s also endowed with over $25.6billion that sits on 1,000 acres. Who are you trying to kid with the “it’s a small town family”, CS?

    What are you talking about – “demonize the students”? I don’t need to do that. Their behavior is atrocious, they do that to themselves. However colleges market themselves, it’s for the dollar. They are like businesses because they turn out a product. What do Yale kids expect? Family life without a professional attitude? Their public spectacle is what I’m talking about—they owe their dean a public apology. If they chose this man, they at least owe him the respect of his office. How do you remotely disagree with that?

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  41. If this idiocy keeps up, I am seriously sending my kids to trade school! (And yes, I went to college. I have a Master's in education.)

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  42. I am a little late pulling up this post. I cannot stand the coddling of college students anywhere - and it is all around us. The lack of independence and resiliency that is so rampant today is something I am constantly fighting against with my own children. I would be careful, however, about attacking the students raised in a privileged bubble. There are many conservative students raised the same way, and some prominent ones also graduated from Yale - for example George HW Bush and George W Bush, as just two examples. George HW Bush could not say how much a loaf of bread cost and had never seen a grocery scanner. I think these are separate things - privilege and campus PC. There is privilege at conservative campuses, too. I've hired Graduates of Hillsdale, Ave Maria and University of Dallas, and trust me, these people were not working their way through college! They were taking their ski vacations at Vail, too. And Yale, of course, has many students from underprivileged backgrounds, as do all colleges. And Nubby is wrong about Yale as a Division I school with big scholarships. There are no athletic or academic scholarships at Yale - only need based scholarships are awarded. That likely results in more socioeconomically disadvantaged students there, which may explain a more liberal student bent. But I think the PC thing is separate entirely from privilege. The attacks on the students and their privilege doesn't necessarily tie into their liberal outlook - certainly for some it does, just as it ties nicely into other wealthy privileged students' conservative outlooks that we should keep taxes low so the rich can create more jobs.

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  43. Pro-ACA, I feel bad that we seem to always misunderstand each other. I was in no way simply deriding children of privilege. I was deriding the idea that certain groups are taught to be perpetual victims, even when those people come from a privileged and comfortable background. I don't think George W. Bush ever painted himself as a victim? Or stated that he was put upon and that he was an oppressed person? I don't remember him needing a "safe space". That's what I'm talking about. Not privilege Itself.

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  44. And, your claim that George W. Bush had "never seen a grocery scanner", or even that he was surprised by one, is ridiculous on its face. The whole thing was a smear by the left and easily debunked:

    http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2008/08/the-bush-41-gro.html

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  45. Seemed to me the attack was on privilege itself. But regardless, is the position of oppression or "victim hood" somehow more tolerable from someone who has overcome incredible socioeconomic barriers? I don't think it is, but your post suggests that you do.

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  46. Pro-ACA, where are you getting that? Why would I be attacking privilege in general? I'm so confused that I even went back and read the entire article that I wrote (and its title) and I'm not seeing that anywhere. I used the word "privilege" once I think, in a parenthetical phrase, referring to the fact that these particular "victim" kids go to Yale, an elite school. Other than that, which is a fact (not an attack on privilege), where are you getting what you say is my thesis? Rich or poor, nobody should be groomed to be "victims", as is standard for the left.

    How could I make my post any clearer? I'm open to suggestions. And do you admit that you perpetuated a myth about George W. Bush?

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  47. And Nubby is wrong about Yale as a Division I school with big scholarships. There are no athletic or academic scholarships at Yale - only need based scholarships are awarded.

    ?

    I am not wrong. Division I is a marker for criteria, which is exactly what I said – Division I means there are bigger program budgets, more scholarships given, and modern facilities. Doesn’t link directly to sports or academic scholarships.

    The type of scholarship awarded is irrelevant. It’s no matter if the scholarships awarded are merit scholarships or need-based scholarships, the point is that the percentage of undergrads who receive grants and scholarships is 52%!

    52%!! That’s not a small budget, therefore, not a “small” school, as CS was trying to claim. Taken right from Yale’s finances page. That was my point. Has nothing to do solely with sports or academia, but size of monies available. Deep pockets.

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  48. Leila,
    Did you see the WSJ article, "Closed Minds on Campus"? Excellent points made in it. Relevant to your post here.

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  49. You've probably already seen this, but in case you haven't, here's a light at the end of the tunnel: http://www.okwu.edu/blog/2015/11/this-is-not-a-day-care-its-a-university/

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  50. Sthenry, yes, I love it!!! And Nubby, I'm putting that on my list to read today! There is still some sanity in our land. :)

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  51. Look at these gems from the WSJ article, speaking to this notion of "microaggressions" and how that definition is "so broad as to condemn almost anything a white person says or does":

    It is forbidden to associate someone's color with any particular trait because it is stereotyping, but then it is also forbidden to say that one doesn't see color at all- and to question a person of color's claim of being discriminated against. What begins as a plea for compassion becomes a kind of bullying.

    ...

    But where the protesters' proposition is "If I am offended, I am correct," the proper response is, quite simply, "No." This and only this constitutes true respect for these students' dignity.

    ...

    But a true university culture will resist sacrificing professors or administrators who are advocates of reason on the altar of convenient pieties.

    Dr. McWhorter teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy and music at Columbia University. His latest book is "The Language Hoax".

    His logic, his articulation, and his reasoning are all On. Point.

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    Replies
    1. Truly awesome!! SO glad he's at Columbia! I'll bet they don't like him much there....

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    2. The whole article is worth the read. And I have the remedy to this "microaggression" bit. It's "microsensitivity". Next time someone claims a microaggression has been spouted, claim they're just being "microsensitive".

      If, according to the makers of new words, we can be aggressive on such a small scale about fantastically vague things, then we can also claim the opposite-- which is that people are being fantastically sensitive about small scale vague things. Logical, no?

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    3. Microsensitive -- bwahahahahahahaha! I love it!! Gosh, when my school aged kids are microsensitive, I figure we just need more virtue training! We don't indulge it.

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  52. sthenryii- That is refreshing that a president sent that out. That's more like the "small school" that CS was trying to paint Yale as being. Enrollment is only 1147 at OKWU. And it's Christian. The poor Yale Dean doesn't even have either of those legs to stand on, and so he took it all publicly on the chin from these obnoxious students who apparently think it's good and wise to be publicly petulant, cross, and peevish over Halloween costumes. Yale students are known for their upper-class breeding, grooming, and more cultured lifestyle, so the data does not fit the narrative. One would expect class and tact, esp since he gave legitimate response to their concerns and didn't just hand-wave them away.

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