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The Coddling of the American Mind

Deacon923

Deacon923

Scooter Banks
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there is an interesting link in that piece to an article about comics on campus - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/thats-not-funny/399335/

this sound like any of the millennials that post on this board?

When I attended the convention in Minneapolis in February, I saw ample evidence of the repressive atmosphere that Rock and Seinfeld described, as well as another, not unrelated factor: the infantilization of the American undergraduate, and this character’s evolving status in the world of higher learning—less a student than a consumer, someone whose whims and affectations (political, sexual, pseudo-intellectual) must be constantly supported and championed.
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That is a really long article to reach conclusions that would have been readily apparent from reading a handful of Townie's and Numbers' posts on this board.
 
Yeah that piece on comedians was really interesting/depressing as well. College was definitely a place where my pre-existing views were challenged and I was exposed to a lot of ideas that were very different from mine. Really sad/distressing that the students themselves are leading the charge to sanitize the environment so that nobody will ever have to risk possibly being offended. I think the article I posted makes a really good point that normalizing this "vindictive protectiveness" is not good - it would lead to a nightmare of litigation if it becomes the legal standard for harassment in the workplace, for example.
 
Identity politics run amok. Everything has to be classified into some degree of either victimization, or oppression. Sometimes they even intersect (I saw some video somebody posted yesterday about the intersection of white privilege and feminism).

Created a generation of whiners who are going to be in for a rude awakening.
 
ChrisL68 said:
Identity politics run amok. Everything has to be classified into some degree of either victimization, or oppression. Sometimes they even intersect (I saw some video somebody posted yesterday about the intersection of white privilege and feminism).

Created a generation of whiners who are going to be in for a rude awakening.
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Said every generation ever about the generation below them.

This stuff is pretty ridiculous, but its not nearly as widespread as that article makes it seem.
 
ChrisL68 said:
Identity politics run amok. Everything has to be classified into some degree of either victimization, or oppression. Sometimes they even intersect (I saw some video somebody posted yesterday about the intersection of white privilege and feminism).

Created a generation of whiners who are going to be in for a rude awakening.
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says the generation whining about them
 
RChildress107 said:
Said every generation ever about the generation below them.

This stuff is pretty ridiculous, but its not nearly as widespread as that article makes it seem.
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Agreed. They took a lot of isolated incidents and attributed the problems to the students instead of the baby boomer administrators who still coddle them instead of saying "Suck it. Condi Rice is speaking at your graduation."

This article also obscures the hostile environments many students face. College students don't want to be treated like crap in their own homes. They make a lot of sacrifices to go to college. They don't want to be peppered with disrespect on a daily basis.
 
RChildress107 said:
Said every generation ever about the generation below them.

This stuff is pretty ridiculous, but its not nearly as widespread as that article makes it seem.
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That's a fair response. You only see the most outrageous instances publicized which tends to distort your perception.
 
PhDeac said:
Agreed. They took a lot of isolated incidents and attributed the problems to the students instead of the baby boomer administrators who still coddle them instead of saying "Suck it. Condi Rice is speaking at your graduation."

This article also obscures the hostile environments many students face. College students don't want to be treated like crap in their own homes. They make a lot of sacrifices to go to college. They don't want to be peppered with disrespect on a daily basis.
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This. College Administrators should worry far more about providing access to and encouraging the use of mental health resources for the large number of students that need them rather than trying to build a bubble around every student.
 
RChildress107 said:
This. College Administrators should worry far more about providing access to and encouraging the use of mental health resources for the large number of students that need them rather than trying to build a bubble around every student.
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Is this a serious post? You are advocating for the bubble that you are decrying. How about the administrators just tell them to grow up and not be such pussies.
 
Telling the kid they have mental health issues causing their problems and/or medicating them accordingly when in fact they just need to stop being such pussies and getting offended so easily is the same as putting them in a bubble so they never get hurt.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
Telling the kid they have mental health issues causing their problems and/or medicating them accordingly when in fact they just need to stop being such pussies and getting offended so easily is the same as putting them in a bubble so they never get hurt.
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Oh wow. Does 2&2 not believe mental health issues are real?
 
PhDeac said:
Oh wow. Does 2&2 not believe mental health issues are real?
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Are some mental health issues real? Of course. However, 107's quote of "encouraging the use of mental health resources for the large number of students that need them" reeks of trying to explain away every insecurity or abnormality as a mental health issue.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
Telling the kid they have mental health issues causing their problems and/or medicating them accordingly when in fact they just need to stop being such pussies and getting offended so easily is the same as putting them in a bubble so they never get hurt.
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Telling a kid with a scrape to walk it off probably won't do any damage in the long run (though I imagine the risk of infection is hire than if you were to clean the wound and then tell the kid to walk it off)

But if you tell a kid with blood gushing from his leg to stop being such a pussy he is going to die.

Most doctors know the difference between a scrape and a severed artery. Most mental health professionals know the difference between someone who needs a little thicker skin and someone who has a mental illness in need of treatment.

Talking about microaggressions and trigger warnings does far more to insulate the former, whereas providing adequate mental health resources does far more to treat the latter.
 
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