SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Recent reporting and discussions here about "trolls" and the "culture of hate" (both con and pro) have repeatedly broached the topic of what appropriate limits to free expression might be.
Dean of Students John Ellison at the University of Chicago has taken a stand on the issue in a letter welcoming new students. He writes:
Once here you will discover that one of the University of Chicago's defining characteristics is our commitment to freedom of inquiry and expression. [...] Members of our community are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, without fear of censorship. Civility and mutual respect are vital to all of us, and freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to harass or threaten others. You will find that we expect members of our community to be engaged in rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement. At times this may challenge you and even cause discomfort.
Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support so called 'trigger warnings,' we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own.
While some have voiced support for Ellison's commitment to free expression (with Robby Soave at Reason encouraging readers to give the dean "a round of applause"), others are concerned about the implications of his message. L.V. Anderson at Slate agrees with much of the letter's content promoting "civility and mutual respect," but finds the last paragraph quoted above to be "weird" and unsettling:
By deriding "safe spaces" and "trigger warnings" before students arrive on campus, the University of Chicago is inadvertently sending a message that certain students—the ones who have never been traumatized, and the ones who have historically felt welcome on college campuses (i.e., white men)—are more welcome than others, and that students who feel marginalized are unlikely to have their claims taken seriously. Adults who decry "the coddling of the American mind" will likely celebrate U. Chicago's preemptive strike against political correctness, but students who have experienced violence, LGBTQ students, and students of color likely will not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:15AM
It is interesting how you conflate all of those issues together in order to bolster the core idea that being respectful people's disabilities is untenable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:29AM
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:37AM
So in your view being black or a woman or having an alternative sexual orientation is a disability now?
Sounds like something we should fix, eh? Maybe a twelve step group therapy program?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:45AM
Would you prefer "vulnerabilities?"
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 27 2016, @01:03AM
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 27 2016, @01:46AM
So - the mentally vulnerable are encouraged to attend college? Really? Vulnerable to WHAT, exactly? Ideas? Well, fuck man, THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR!! To get ideas!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:33AM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @12:52AM
I have a debilitating medical disability and pass out at detailed descriptions of injuries or blood. Safe spaces and support groups are not the same thing. Safe spaces are echo chambers that reinforce the need for their own existence. Support groups are about overcoming the difficulties you have in your life. Safe spaces having been replacing support groups since humans are lazy and echo chambers are comforting compared to facing the reality that you need to work to improve yourself.
Trigger warnings, well, they're very much overused. Almost no one suddenly blurts out to random people the gory details of how they were tortured. Such talk can normally be predicted before it happens, and the person with poor emotional control should be mature enough to remove themselves from the conversation or ask for a different topic. Having every emotionally controlled person providing disclaimers before talking is stupid. Personal responsibility is your responsibility. If you can't handle something it is up to you and only you to make sure you avoid the things you can't handle and/or learn how to handle them. Someone starts talking about an injury and I leave, I don't whine about how they didn't warn everyone around them before they started talking.
Safe spaces and trigger warnings are insulting to me. They have nothing to do with respect, only butt covering and micro-aggression avoidance because nowadays accidentally upsetting someone is worse than punching them. Respect is an attitude, not a club or a disclaimer.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 27 2016, @01:50AM
Thank you, Sir. Those support groups? I was mildly contemptuous of them, as a young man. But, age and a drop or two of wisdom has convinced me that there is nothing wrong with support groups. They demand nothing from anyone outside the group. They don't demand that I change to accomodate them.
Safe spaces on the other hand, subject outsiders to threats of beatings and worse. Witness the reporter assaulted by a "professor" for "invading" her so-called "safe space".
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @01:23AM
It is interesting how you conflate all of those issues together in order to bolster the core idea that being respectful people's disabilities is untenable.
You used that word! No warning, no explanation. It's differently-abled you bigoted sonofabitch!
Now I've been injured by your hateful words, and I can't even SWAT you or tell my mommy!
You belong in prison, you bigoted, insensitive asshole!
I'm forever scarred by you. I hope you're happy!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @10:36AM
You said 'asshole' without a trigger warning. I wasn't expecting sailor talk.
I hope you're happy too !