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I really, really wish I could admit guilt and tell you that I've indeed had to construct a strawman because my point required it. Unfortunately, I didn't becaus

• TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
  > I really, really wish I could admit guilt and tell you that I've indeed had to construct a strawman because my point required it. Unfortunately, I didn't because it doesn't. Either you are uninformed about the current levels of insanity reached in PC circles, or you belong to them and hope that nobody will notice what you guys are up to. > I will give just 2 examples, and let everyone else be the judge. > http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trouble-teaching-rap.. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trouble-teaching-rap.... One teacher I know was recently asked by a student not to use the word “violate” in class—as in “Does this conduct violate the law?”—because the word was triggering. One single student had a problem with the word "violate", which isn't entirely unsurprising. This word is frequently used in relation to acts of physical and sexual violence. It might seem ridiculous to you that single words can cause problems for some people, but trauma can be like that. If you've suffered something traumatic, a word or phrase might remind you of it. Wouldn't that make you uncomfortable? Is there really anything wrong with asking a professor to avoid that specific phrase, so you can concentrate better on your work? It doesn't prevent them talking about the subject. It's just a tiny kindness they are asking for. And, in fact, slurs are also single words. Society has learned to stop using them. Where's the uproar? So, your example doesn't live up to your statement: > a whole new generation in US colleges that starts crying incontrollably when a law professor utters the word "rape" Well, this isn't "a whole new generation", it's one student in one school who has a problem with one word. And there's not a "generation" 'crying incontrollably'. There's one student who's having trouble with it. Yes, other students at other schools also sometimes have similar issues. Still doesn't meet your statement. Some people have specific needs. What's wrong with accommodating them? > http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/566202/NUS-jazz-hands-clapp.. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/566202/NUS-jazz-hands-clapp.... The NUS Women's Campaign tweeted from its official account: "Some delegates are requesting that we move to jazz hands rather than clapping, as it's triggering anxiety. Please be mindful". Certain people at an event had an issue with loud noise, and politely asked that others express applause in a quieter fashion. This doesn't even have anything to do with political correctness. ---- I still consider the situation you have described to be a straw man. You are vastly exaggerating the nature, scale and consequences of this supposed problem. Occasionally, people are in the unfortunate position where certain small things cause them problems. They politely ask for people not to do those things. This is usually referred to as 'kindness' or 'being considerate'. > I will re-iterate that people like you, advocating that this behaviour can in any way or shape be construed as reasonable or a mark of progress, are doing a disservice to victims of actual traumatic events (or more to the point : spitting in their face). Please explain to me how, for example, it is somehow a bad thing to not warn someone who has survived rape that the book they are about to read contains a graphic depiction of it? This is a realistic example. It happens all the time. > I can't wait to see how "snowflake generation" does in the real world. Have a nice evening. They'll do wonderfully. Because they are creating a world that is just very slightly more considerate than the one before. Even if the world doesn't change, they'll do the same as they always have. People who've suffered trauma have always existed. People who are part of discriminated-against groups have always existed. They just might have a very slightly easier time now.
  • thinkdevcode 11y ago
    I don't usually reply to HN posts but in this instance I'm deeply troubled by most of the posts you've made in this thread, but the most unsettling thing you've said thus far is: > Because they are creating a world that is just very slightly more considerate than the one before. Who gives you, or anyone else, the right to "create a world" in which I am a member of and can dictate what I can and cannot say? Why do you get to decide what is "considerate"? I see this in our next generation and this trend is most troubling indeed.
    • TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
      > Who gives you, or anyone else, the right to "create a world" in which I am a member of and can dictate what I can and cannot say? "Dictating"? You're not being required not to say words. People are suggesting it might be inconsiderate. Although I suppose that eventually it might become culturally unacceptable. As for 'the right to "create a world"', nobody has a "right" to change culture, it's simply a thing which happens. Some people attempt to influence how it changes. Though another answer might be that everyone has the right: everyone has the human right to free speech, and speech affects culture. > I see this in our next generation and this trend is most troubling indeed Culture shifts are nothing new. People believing they can change culture, and doing it, is nothing new.