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from the whatever-happened-to-DEsegregation? dept.
The Washington Times reports a story about protesters on the UC Berkeley campus physically blocking white students from accessing a bridge while police stand by and watch:
Students at the University of California, Berkeley held a day of protest on Friday to demand the creation of additional “safe spaces” for transgender and nonwhite students, during which a human chain was formed on a main campus artery to prevent white students from getting to class.
The demonstrators were caught on video blocking Berkeley’s Sather Gate, holding large banners advocating the creation of physical spaces segregated by race and gender identity, including one that read “Fight 4 Spaces of Color.”
Protesters can be heard shouting “Go around!” to white students who attempt to go through the blockade, while students of color are greeted with calls of “Let him through!”
Students turned away by the mob are later shown filing through trees and ducking under branches in order to cross Strawberry Creek, which runs underneath the bridge.
The protests were a response to a Safe Space being moved from the fifth floor of a building down to the basement.
[Original version of this story had "UCLA"; corrected to: "UC Berkeley" -Ed.]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by RedBear on Saturday October 29 2016, @04:02PM
We could all go off half-cocked and start calling them all racists discriminating against whites (which they are, albeit briefly and for a specific purpose). Or we could remember the long, unpleasant history of segregation, discrimination, Jim Crowe and extreme violence that people of color have had to deal with for a long time, and acknowledge that many people of color and those with non-traditional sexuality or gender expression are still feeling very threatened and vulnerable in the modern world. Because, big shocker, they are in fact still widely discriminated against, verbally attacked, threatened with violence and even killed for simply being who they are. Right up to the present day.
The desire to have a safe place where one is not under constant threat of attack is a universal human yearning. We don't camp out in the open when there is a good solid cave available. White nationalists feel the need for safe spaces just as much as trans people or people of color might feel the need for them, and we should be capable as a society of allowing those safe spaces to exist for any group that feels the need for one. The only argument really is to what extent public funds or public spaces should be earmarked for such things. As long as any group that wants a safe space is given equal resources, there shouldn't be much of a problem.
Then again, perhaps this kind of thing is only possible in a parallel universe where people are more rational, magnanimous and pragmatic. In which case nobody would feel the need for safe spaces in the first place.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Bot on Saturday October 29 2016, @04:09PM
But if you behave just as your enemy does, then you acknowledge what he did is not inherently wrong, might makes right.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @04:41PM
The desire to have a safe place where one is not under constant threat of attack is a universal human yearning.
It's 2016 in America, the most first-world of first-world nations. You are not "under constant threat of attack." You are paranoid, and if that paranoia affects your ability to function normally in society, it is a mental illness for which you should seek medical attention.
If you lived in some lawless shithole like Somalia, you might have a legitimate point about "constant threat of attack." The actual safety of society has numbed you to the definitions of real danger and real suffering, and the heavily biased news beams propaganda about minorities being shot by police officers or white people while ignoring the reality of who actually commits what little violent crime does happen in America. If the news were required to show a picture of every perpetrator of every murder and robbery and rape for an equal amount of time, you'd see that half of all murders are committed by black people and that Latinos make up a big chunk of the "white" criminal population. Instead, you only get statistics about victims, not perpetrators, and then you only get the stories that conform to a grossly mendacious narrative. As for people being persecuted because of sexuality, it boggles the mind that gay men like Tim Cook or George Kalogridis or Anderson Cooper occupy the summits of business and media sectors while people talk about being under "constant threat of attack."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:48PM
America
"America" is a hemisphere, not a nation.
Additionally, "first-world" is an anachronistic term that refers to hegemonic Cold War spheres of geopolitical influence.
Now, if what you mean is "technologically advanced", USA might qualify--if you don't look at what Joe Average has for access to e.g. healthcare or higher education or the internet.
If you mean "sociologically advanced" (that being completely subjective), it's clear that you know nothing about Iceland.
...or Germany.
Now, if what you mean by "first" is "has the most ridiculously large collection of weapons and uses them and threatens to use them in order to gain influence", -then- you'd be correct.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday October 29 2016, @06:29PM
Safe Spaces are fine in theory, but there is no such thing. Put three people of the identical race, religion, etc in the same room long enough, with no other company but each other's, and before long two of them will be ostracizing the third. Many people who dream of a harmonious, homogenous culture where the whole country is a safe space are living in a fantasy land. They neglect to observe the lot of countries that exist and do meet that description such as Japan. There burakumin and hibakusha are the untouchables, the shunned.
The answer is not to pull back into a shell but rather to engage in the public discourse, thrust, parry, and, to be blunt, stop whining so goddamned much.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:41PM
BINGO!!!
Or, for those who need real life examples - more young black males are shot by young black males than by all other people in this nation.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @06:36PM
The desire to have a safe place where one is not under constant threat of attack is a universal human yearning.
Let's not kid ourselves that this is afforded to everyone equally. If you are some white supremacist trying form a safe place like Leith, North Dakota (and especially with your own damn money), you will be hounded and derided. And before anyone suggests that the rest of the country is a safe place for these people, let's not forget how reviled these folk are even among other whites.
And it goes on from men only establishments being called oppressive and sexist to insular Muslims refusing to integrate.
You can't decry tribalistic tendencies of one being oppression while placing your own "whites only" signs. That shit ain't gonna fly.
And regardless, there are certain courtesies afforded to everyone in a public space that keep the social lubricant flowing and keep us from each others' throats. The surest test is if the roles were reversed, what is standing?
Can't shake the devil's hand and say you were only kidding.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @06:53PM
You're an idiot. They ARE racists, and random white people of today (especially in that age bracet for fuck sake!) had nothing to do with segregation so fuck anyone and everyone punishing them for it as if they were responsible.
And a bunch of asshole protesters demanding safe spaces? Holy shit. They really don't seem to need them now do they?
Eat a dick or a pussy. Whichever you find more offensive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:38PM
white is a color, you stupid suck ass whore!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 29 2016, @10:39PM
Safe space is spelled H O M E. I have never in my life barged into any man or woman's home, uninvited. They are perfectly safe at home. When they walk out that door, and head off to work, it ain't "safe" anymore. Or, it's just as safe for them as it is for me.
This demand for a "safe space" only makes me look down on people who need it. A "safe space" is where you keep the little children, the elderly, and the mentally incompetent. Those people don't look terribly young, or terribly old, so I presume that they are just retards.