Safe Spaces, Microaggression, and Trigger Warnings - The Insanity Permeating Throughout College Campuses Today With No Apparent End In Sight

It is time for us to take a step back, look at the monster we've created, and say enough is enough. Yep, we need to yank on the chain, and I mean yank back hard. Things have spiraled out of control and unless we put a lid on it it will be too late to restore normalcy into our world.

I'm referring to the fragile, delicate millennials and the incredible entitlement mentality they have, along with the censorship they think they are free to impose on the rest of us.

We've allowed these putzes to take charge of things because we're afraid to grab them by the scruff of the neck, slap them around a bit, and tell them to that no one gives two rats' behinds what they think or how they feel.

Day after day I read and hear about incidents at college campuses involving genteel feelings being hurt, emotional outcries, tears pouring down from the heavens, and mega doses of boo hoo-ing by wet-behind-the-ears kiddies who should be thanking their lucky stars that they get to sit in on their rear ends for four, five, and six or more years while the rest of the world is working for a living.

While these self righteous buffoons get up at noon and try to decide whether their daily Starbuck's offering should include whey or turbinado sugar, many others got up at 5:00 am, made lunch for their kids, dropped them off at school, commute to work, and clock in for a 10-hour or more work day...if they're lucky.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity to cash in on the latest fad, psychobabblers everywhere have come up with all kinds of nifty, witty terms to assuage bruised egos and frail feelings - "safe places",  "micro-aggression", "trigger warnings"; and other such utterly asinine terminology to exploit and give credence to whining and hand wringing.

Enough.

To all of the millennial who are putting on the weeps because they saw something on YouTube that hurt their feelings, sucks for you. You read someone's post on Facebook or saw a photo on Instagram that made you sad? Your roommate thinks climate change is a hoax and that offends you? Tough noogies. Domino's stopped offering cheesy bread sticks with a large pizza? Get over it.

And while you're at it, get over yourselves.

Oh, but I forgot. Somewhere along the way you decided that life should be fair. That unicorns grow in forests. That all you have to do is ask mommy or daddy and a new car appears in the driveway, all your living expenses and tuition are paid for, and rainbows will light your way through life.

You're a disgrace. Your parents' AMEX is burning a hole in your pocket and you can't wait for the new iPhone to come out so you can replace last year's model. The biggest decision you'll be making today is whether to take a selfie with or without a pouty look. And you have the stones to complain that your feelings aren't paramount to everyone else's.

How did we let things get to this obscene point? Here are some examples of what's happening on campuses throughout the U.S.

University of Arizona protesters demanding ... free tampons

“Marginalized" students at the University of Arizona recently issued nineteen pages of demands because they were upset over a slew of things they deemed vital. Their demands included:

• Free tampons, menstrual pads, and condoms in university restrooms
• Free testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
• Faculty race quotas in place by 2020.
• Millions of dollars in new funding for building renovations
• Access to free computers
• Paid tutors
• Reduced-price or free healthy food; and 
• New places to practice spirituality or religion

Imagine going to your boss and making demands like this.... How fast would you be told to pack it up, hit the pavement, and avoid having the door hit you in the rear end on your way out?

Here's a few more.

Four female students at Columbia University protested the teaching of classical mythology in the classroom and insisted that the school implement a trigger warning for Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” because the book includes rape and sexual assault.

At Oberlin College and Georgetown University, female students were shielded from the views of a lecturer who regularly speaks in support of “equity" feminism - the idea that men and women are equal under the law. "Trigger warnings" and a safe space were provided just in case the ladies were threatened by the idea that men and women can be equal.

At Massachusetts' Clark University, students are now forbidden from treating others "negatively" based on social or political affiliations.'

At the University of California-Santa Barbara, trigger warnings are required in every syllabus for any works that students could find disconcerting or uncomfortable. Students have the option to skip a trigger class or assignment without any penalty to their grade.

But as ridiculously stupid as the foregoing is, it pales in comparison to recent events at Emory University in Atlanta where students staged massive protests and insisted on counseling because someone anonymously wrote "Vote Trump", "Trump 2016", and other pro-Trump messages with chalk on a campus sidewalks.

I am not making this up. A group of coddled, whimpering Emory students staged a protest outside the university's administration building because of the the chalk messages. They had the unmitigated gall to shout, “You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!”

The students then moved into the administration building while yelling, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Seriously? You insufferable pinheads, your pampered, over indulged sensibilities were rubbed the wrong way because of a few chalk signs expressing support for a presidential candidate that you don't like? And that caused you ... pain?

As the grownups, university officials should have stepped in, slapped these idiots like red headed step children, and sent them on their way.

But oh, noooooooo. Jim Wagner, President of Emory University and the adult that is being paid to be in the room, met with the protesters and issued this statement afterward:

Dear Emory Community, 

Yesterday I received a visit from 40 to 50 student protesters upset by the unexpected chalkings on campus sidewalks and some buildings yesterday morning, in this case referencing Donald Trump. The students shared with me their concern that these messages were meant to intimidate rather than merely to advocate for a particular candidate, having appeared outside of the context of a Georgia election or campus campaign activity. During our conversation, they voiced their genuine concern and pain in the face of this perceived intimidation. 

After meeting with our students, I cannot dismiss their expression of feelings and concern as motivated only by political preference or over-sensitivity. Instead, the students with whom I spoke heard a message, not about political process or candidate choice, but instead about values regarding diversity and respect that clash with Emory’s own. 

As an academic community, we must value and encourage the expression of ideas, vigorous debate, speech, dissent, and protest. At the same time, our commitment to respect, civility, and inclusion calls us to provide a safe environment that inspires and supports courageous inquiry. It is important that we recognize, listen to, and honor the concerns of these students, as well as faculty and staff who may feel similarly. 

On the heels of work begun by students last fall and advanced last month through the Racial Justice Retreat and subsequent working groups, Emory is taking a number of significant steps:

• Immediate refinements to certain policy and procedural deficiencies (for example, our bias incident reporting and response process);
• Regular and structured opportunities for difficult dialogues (like the Transforming Community Project of several years ago);
• A formal process to institutionalize identification, review, and addressing of social justice opportunities and issues; and
• Commitment to an annual retreat to renew our efforts.

To keep moving forward, we must continue to engage in rich and meaningful dialogue around critical issues facing our nation and our society. I learn from every conversation like the one that took place yesterday and know that further conversations are necessary. More than that, such discussions should lead to action that continues to foster a more just and inclusive Emory. 

                                                                                                          Sincerely,
                                                                                                          Jim Wagner

Apparently, the adults in the room at Emory don't know how to step up and act like the adults in the room. And they certainly don't know how to do it at Northwestern University either.

Northwestern University President Morton Shapiro

Northwestern President Morton Shapiro addressed the incoming crop of freshmen this year and told them to look for safe spaces on campus. He told them that if they couldn't find any, the university would provide whatever assistance was necessary to help students find them.

With regard to "traumatic" ideas, he told them to forget about preparing themselves psychologically for such things. Anyone who fostered such ideas were, in his words, lunatics.

“The people who decry safe spaces do it from their segregated housing places, from their jobs without diversity — they do it from their country clubs. It just drives me nuts.”

2016 University of Chicago letter to incoming students

Shapiro's head must have exploded when he found out that just a few miles away from his campus, across town, the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago wrote a letter to incoming students and sent them a message that was just a wee bit different:

“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."

Finally. A dose of common sense injected into the mix. An adult who wasn't afraid to make it clear to purportedly emotionally fragile, spineless idiots that unless they put on their big boy and big girl pants life would rip out their throats upon leaving their sheltered existences on campus. Someone who was willing to make it clear to students that it was time for them to learn how to bridge the gap between their playpens and the the cruel world that lurked outside the ivy, wrought iron, and brick walls of nirvana-land.

So allow me to follow the lead of the University of Chicago and send a message to all the whiny little wussies who opt to snivel in their safe spaces or plug their ears when they sense what they think is some micro aggression. Grow up and say hello to the real world, you imbecilic twits. If you don't, you'll soon be chewed up and spit out so fast your delicate constitution won't know what hit it.

I can't wait for you to think back to all those years you screamed about universal health care. You're about to pay up the nose for it. Oh, you don’t want it? That will cost you too. You want an apartment? A house? A car? Guess what - it will cost you real dinero, not hand out to you because you bitched and moaned.

And here's the kicker ... remember all that "free stuff" you thought sounded so cool when it was shoveled your way? Now you're going to pay for all of it too. See, there's this thing called taxes, and other than death it's the only thing you can't avoid.

You will long for the days when you arrived at State U, where if your feelings were hurt you were a victim. If you were challenged, the challenger was a bigot.

In the real world, you will be challenged. Oh, baby will you be challenged. Because life is a never ending series of challenges...and disappointments....and many instances of unpleasantness. You will soon learn that humility will get you a lot further than your grousing or self righteous bravado. Selflessness will be more important that your unfettered, spoiled selfishness.

You're going to quickly learn (the hard way) that who you are as a person and what you do for yourself will far outweigh the color of your skin, your socio-economic background, your sex, your weight, your religious affiliation, or whether you're a boy and you want to wear a dress and go pee in the girls room.

You will not get five breaks a day. You’re going to have to work nights and weekends from time to time. Nine and ten hour workdays will be the norm, unless you want to flip burgers or vacuum cars at the car wash all your life.

You will not graduate and immediately transition to a six-figure job. Thanks to your pick for president the last two elections you’ll be lucky to land any kind of job, and more than likely, it will be part time  job… and you should be grateful when you find it.

So, kiddies, enjoy the remainder of your time being genteel, pristine little snowflakes. Revel in being pampered in what has become the world’s most expensive daycare centers across the country. Soon, you’ll be in the real world.

And the crap is about to get real.