By Scott Tibbs, November 18, 2015
As we remembered and thanked all veterans a week ago, it was striking to think about the differences between veterans and the coddled, wimpy so-called "college students" who demand "safe spaces" to protect them from ideas they disagree with. While pathetic so-called "students" need a "safe space" young men of generations past left their safe spaces to run into the most dangerous place imaginable - the middle of a war zone. Veterans were too worried about surviving a hail of bullets and defeating the enemy to be "offended" by ideas they dislike.
To be fair to today's so-called "students," this politically correct insanity is nothing new. It is just more visible today than it was twenty years ago. Twelve years ago, so-called "students" at Indiana University were trying to get a professor fired for saying things on his personal blog the "students" found offensive, and other so-called "students" were trying to get the university to discipline a conservative group for protesting affirmative action. Fourteen years ago, so-called "students" demanded "diversity training" for Indiana Daily Student staff after the IDS agreed to run an advertisement from David Horowitz. There are many examples stretching back many years, just here in Bloomington.
The reason I am calling the politically correct crybabies "so-called 'students'" instead of just "students" is they are not "students" at all. Real students are dedicated to learning about facts, concepts, and even new ideas. The entire point of being a student is to learn. If you need to retreat to a "safe space" because someone is saying something you disagree with instead of learning about that idea, then you are not a student. Period.
As an example of how silly things are, consider a so-called "controversy" about an extremely deferential, tolerant and respectful e-mail sent by a Yale professor's wife. The hysterical reaction of so-called "students" to this e-mail has been the subject of nationwide scorn, mocking ridicule and derision. I shared a couple articles about it on Twitter.
Do I even need to call this nonsense out as "ridiculous?" I see things that I disagree with all the time, both in pop culture and in the media. I see people mocking my faith, my Savior and me personally. I do not retreat to a "safe space" or demand that the Diversity Police censor those things - and I would not have thought to do that when I was twenty years old. I knew when I arrived in Bloomington to go to college that I was going to be in a minority and that I would disagree with a lot of what I saw and heard. I dealt with it and got my degree. It is called being an adult.
But what worries me the most is that the crybabies at Yale and elsewhere represent the future leaders of these United States of America. How are these so-called "students" going to handle it when they get into the real world and they do not have the Diversity Police to silence the opposition or provide a "safe space" when they encounter a new idea? If (God forbid!) some of them wind up shaping U.S. foreign policy, how will they handle disagreement? Will they cry and hide if a KGB thug like Vladimir Putin mocks them? Will they demand the United Nations do something about it?
It is true that political correctness and censorship is not new, but the hysteria seems worse than it has been in the past. I truly fear for the future of our nation when these crybabies start taking the levers of power. I just pray to God that these pathetic wimps manage to grow up before that happens.
