I wonder what anthropologists in the future will think, looking back on 2015 and reading our newspapers. If there is anything that has stood out this year, it’s that the year can be called the Year of Offense. American liberals have fallen all over themselves in an effort to be offended and to scream about their offense, to the point where it seems to overrun the real news all too often.
It was bad enough when the #BlackLivesMatter movement started, raising an outcry only drowned out by their own violence every time a black criminal was killed by a white police officer.
Then it started getting ridiculous when they got offended by the southern Civil War Battle Flag. That led to offenses for every monument and reminder of the Civil War that ever existed. Now, it’s reached a point where students in colleges and universities are being offended by anything said, which doesn’t agree with their narrow world view.
These claims of “microagressions” have reached a point where universities are at the brink of not being able to operate anymore. The University of Missouri has been all but shut down, by students protesting a combination of racial prejudice and offense from contrary viewpoints. The football team refused to play, ultimately leading to the President of the university resigning.
In my opinion, the university president was wrong to resign. All he did was prove in the minds of the students that they were right. But the only cases of racism that were brought up as “evidence” that the university was racist, were things done by individuals, not the university itself. Those aren’t the fault of the university, although resigning over them makes it look like the president took responsibility for them.
What he should have done is to kick all the striking football players off the team; but he apparently didn’t have the guts to do so. Their scholarship contract specifically states that they have to participate in all team activities, or lose their scholarships and their places on the team. Had he stood up to the football team, instead of caving to their demands, the situation may have ended.
But he didn’t. So now we have a hunger strike by a student who claims that he is the victim of racial discrimination. Of course, he and the mainstream news media is hiding the facts that his dad made over six million dollars last year and his net worth is over 20 million.
I guess that just doesn’t fit their picture of a poor, disadvantaged black student, who is being mistreated by the horrible white establishment of the school.
True or Not True?
So much of this anymore is about creating images that support the progressive left’s agenda. Truth is no longer an issue in news reporting or even in life. As long as it supports their agenda, it’s okay, regardless of what that means has to be done.
Apparently there are two issues being complained about in Missou. One is the racial discrimination and the other is microagressions causing offenses. The two seem to be intertwined, but each can stand on its own as well.
It doesn’t really matter, as it’s all about having the right buzzwords and the right image anyway. Apparently they think that if they can make themselves out to be the mistreated underdog, then they will win. Nothing else matters.
This has been coming for quite some while. I mentioned how liberals have been seeking offense everywhere they turn. It’s almost become a game with them, seeing who can come up with the newest thing to call “racist” or to be offended about. Both are the same, considering that the word “racism” now means whatever they want it to mean in order to back up their point.
Racism has become the liberal trump card. In their minds, all they have to do is play that card and they’ve automatically won. So, they play it as frequently and as loudly as they can. Unfortunately, this has scared many conservatives, who are thinking of what “racism” used to mean and don’t want to be branded with that name.
The students at Missou have been effective enough in their demonstrations that they’ve managed to spread their offense off campus. There are now at least three other campuses which have decided that they have the same grievances as the University of Missouri, even though those grievances haven’t really been clearly stated. That doesn’t matter though, as they are in agreement and standing together with their fraternal brothers and sisters at Missou.
So, what are their grievances? I haven’t been able to get much of a handle on them, but there are a couple of things that have stood out.
The first is that the President of University of Missouri was white. Apparently since all whites, especially white males are racist, that makes the university racist. To go with that, there aren’t enough black college professors on campus to make the black students feel comfortable. Obviously this is a crime of the highest order and must be addressed.
If we assume for a minute, that the university was avoiding hiring black professors, could it be that not enough blacks applied for those positions? I have no idea of how many black college professors there are, but maybe there aren’t enough to go around. Could it be that this horrendous crime is more an indictment against the black community than against the university? Oops, we’d better not go there.
The other big issue that has come up is the whole issue of offenses. Apparently modern college students have evolved to the point where they can’t stand a contrary opinion. Anything that opposes their world view, spoon fed to them by their liberal professors, causes them to go running and screaming back to their “safe zone” where they don’t have to hear such disturbing things.
This is an indictment on our entire educational system, especially at the secondary and pre-graduate levels. If there is anything that college students should be exposed to, it’s contrary opinions. How else are they ever going to be able to make a rational decision for themselves, about what they believe?
Or have our institutions of higher learning turned into institutions of higher indoctrination? Has the idea of making sure that the next generation be politically correct overcome the need to educate them? Are college professors so afraid that a contrary idea might actually be more attractive to their students than the liberal milk they’ve been feeding them? If their liberalism is so great, then why can’t it stand up to those contrary ideas?
The real danger here is that by shielding those children from other ideas, the universities are keeping them children. They are unable to think for themselves. Even worse, they are unprepared for facing real life, when they get out of college. How is a young man or young woman going to face a boss, when that boss tells them to do something that they don’t want to do? Are they going to cry and run to their safe zone? Will they quit?
Or are they going to file a law suit against their boss for offending them? I’m pretty sure that I’ve been offended by every boss that I ever had, how are these oversensitive children going to fare in the workplace?
It’s sad that our society has been reduced to this point. One of our founding principles is freedom of speech. That concept is enshrined in the very First Amendment to the Constitution. Not that it was added later, for the Continental Congress refused to vote it into law, without the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. That’s how far back our right of Freedom of Speech goes.
Where the Real Danger Lies
Yet Freedom of Speech is in real danger today. Political correctness is striving to destroy it. Left-wing politicians are talking about limiting Freedom of Speech, so that people not be offended.
Of course, the only ones they are concerned about protecting from offense are their left-wing supporters. As they have so clearly demonstrated, they couldn’t care less if those on the right are offended. That’s immaterial, because those on the right are automatically labeled “racist.”
Freedom of Speech means that people will be offended. It means that contrary opinions will be raised up. That’s good. For it is in the crucible of discussing and debating those different opinions that great ideas are formed.
Ideas that cross political boundaries and bond us together into a society that works for all of us, rather than just for some of us. Without that discussion, only the ideas of the ruling party are allowed and freedom is lost.
Perhaps that’s the idea; perhaps the whole PC argument is nothing more than a way of taking away our freedom and making us bow down to the inevitability of liberal control. We need our Freedom of Speech, just as much as we need to be offended by other people’s ideas.
For through that offense, we can begin to see their viewpoint, their lives and their struggles. Only then, can we become part of the solution in finding a system which works for all.
This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.
References
Main picture source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missouri-football-players-boycott-protest-president-n459381
I believe the university president was right in quitting. The man was in a n impossible situation. Right or wrong,he could not win from his position.
I left the U.S. ten years ago for the same reason.
Maybe the problem boils down to too many people walking away from issues contrary to the Constitution. Freedoms under the Constitution are for those who will stand and defend it. Far to many people fail to demand correction for offences to the Constitution, this emboldens these un-American types to push their personal agendas and too often Liberal Courts support these idiots.
As for the Religious War, Many months ago I predicted this return to Islamic war was starting. Further, I said Obama was supportive to this agenda and his managing of the fight against the Syrian Camp of Mad Dog Islamist Terrorists exemplifies this issue. Obama’s lack of willingness to fight Terrorists in a meaningful way, will come back to haunt America in terrible ways.
The reason Leftist Liberal Socialists are now setting the stage to eliminate our right of free speech is because they feel pretty confident that their new ‘make everybody a felon’ strategy with all the new anti-Constitutional 2nd/A and 4th/A bypass laws, therefore eventually making all Patriot gun owners subject to total gun prohibition, search, and seizure, as soon as Hillary becomes POTUS, because they are getting away with promoting and passing all these illegal anti-gun and privacy Bills/Acts/statutes! So what makes anybody think the rest of our ‘inalienable’ Bill of rights won’t fall like dominoes, as well?
If most of us don’t bother to ‘DO’ anything about it in even the most minimalist way, like at least bugging their POS representatives to death and voting accordingly, or donating a few donut dollars to pro 2/A and 4/A activist groups…
What do you expect?
How many gun owners turned their guns in out east whenever that particular states brain dead politicians passed a law that said they had to turn them in? Yeah right. How would you like to be tasked with the job of going out to confiscate said guns? Better say goodbye for the last time to your family and tell them you love them because somebody ain’t coming home. Hopefully people with common sense will allow this to play out in the courts. While we are on the subject of Hillary being elected as POTUS we the people need to contact our elected representatives and put pressure on them to get her charged with her crimes. The only reason they aren’t doing this is because as shrewd as she is, she knows where all their skeletons are buried and is threatening them to prolong this till after she wins the democratic nod. I for one am sick of the politics being played in the capital building in D.C. and at our state levels. At my age I have maybe 15 years left of my life here on this earth and am sick to my stomach when I even hear the word politician. The only word that makes me sicker is attorney but then I guess they are kinda both synonymous huh.
Excellent analysis Bill. Never will see this stated in the drive-by media.
My satisfaction comes from knowing in time these spoon fed hyper-sensitive narrow minded intellectually intolerant nanny state students will get a rude a wakening once they venture out into the real world. No private sector employer would tolerate such sniveling miscreants…poster child products of our government run educational system. Lastly, I take comfort in knowing when SHFT happens they and their professorial ilk will find Darwinism alive and well.
This country is 47% still conservative and the liberals account for only 5-7% of the population…
The problem is conservatives are a bunch of scaredy cats…the solution…get off your butts and sand for something like supporting conservative principles and take action in volunteering,, voting, etc.
If anyone is to blame it lays directly on the shoulders of conservatives who hve buckled in and are bowing down to the liberals and just taking it…
So “rock the boat” and do something…..quit being a bunch of pansies!
OTGguy
Absolutely right! It’s time for all to stand up and say “we are not going to take this BS any longer!” Time to realize we are the majority and quit acting like we are not! Enough is enough, time to stand up to these bullies and shut em down!!!
All these racism and PC accusations are just poking the bear with a sharp stick. People will eventually get fed up and explode with their pent up anger. When people get tired of being shoved into a corner for no reason, they will shove back with twice the force. Black people say they want a race war and I think they will continue with their threats and accusations until they get it. Yes, I’m a racist…I wasn’t for more than 50 years but now I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.
Hello, George. After subscribing to Survivopedia today (Sunday, October 23, 2016), I read your comment regarding black people and racism. First of all, I am a 57-year-old black woman who is a Christian, a conservative, a patriot, an educator, a mother, and a grandmother. I do NOT want a race war. The very thought horrifies me! I do not hate nor wish to harm white people. I do not and never will support the Black Lives Matter movement. No doubt Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would consider their hateful rhetoric and violent actions deplorable. So do I. Quite frankly, the current state of affairs in this country frightens and saddens me….especially the ever-increasing racial division (I blame liberalism). That said, the media loves portraying black people with a collective mind-set (the tiresome “victim” mentality) which, of course, seems to be the case when one sees a bunch of angry black people on the screen. Yet, these protesters certainly do not represent all black people. Given that I am likely more than halfway through my life, I pray that before I die, Americans of ALL colors will once again endeavor to unify into one nation under God. Together we will stand strong, divided we will surely fall.
I am a Kennedy democrat. The problem today is that JFK would be called a right wing Conservative.
As far as the article is concerned, Those who can do and those who can’t teach. The problem is most schools have left wing liberals running and teaching in schools. There is no opposing view allowed. Liberals went to teach and conservatives started businesses. This was well orchestrated by the powers that be. I believe that when they started this at Berkley many years ago Regan sent in the National Guard. That settled things.
I have no problem hiring more black professors and teachers. Are there enough to go around? I don’t know. When you have 32% graduation rate in the inner city schools, I am not sure. Let’s spend more money on schools!
You are not going to change the inner city schools until the parents get involved. The problem is there are too many single parents in the inner city who can’t or won’t take care of their children.
I have too much to say and I can’t type, so I’ll leave it there.
Oh yeah, I guess I’m racist?
The leftist universities are going to eat themselves! They’ve created the monsters that will now devour them!!
We are unfortunately, raising a generation of spoiled, over-privileged, entitled…. excuse my language p—ies…. who have ABSOLUTELY no idea how the real world works. All we can do is acknowledge the problem, change it, and dont repeat it and dont give in to their naive tantrum throwing demands… we the parents need to take responsibility for the way our kids are raised… it starts at the home front…. maybe as communities we need to consider community baby sitting. For parents that work all the time. … dont know.. just a quicky thought
I refer to the modern PC cry babies as “Generation Butt-Hurt”.
Can’t wait to hear them cry when they have to make their own way in life.
In many cases, the parents are just as much a part of the problem as they enable, empower or even encourage their kids to be perpetual victims. Gone are the days that when you got in trouble at school or behaved in an antisocial way, you got in worse trouble at home. Today the parents attack the school officials, police or whatever authority figure involved when the kids act up or get in trouble. Our entire society is in a state of spiritual and moral decay!
The Year of Sniveling Bitches. Barry O. and his disillusioned followers still in shock nothing they achieved made the world a better place. All the camp fire songs, tweets and rally’s divided the country. Bowing to Kings and lighting candles empowered the Sharia extremists, alien immigrants and wastes of breath. It is sad the civilian and political minorities weakness for being offended has ensured several years of unnecessary tragedy and promotion of reliance on state and invitation to war impoverished. If anything is to be remembered, remember “You reap what you sow”…
Wow! What about the George Bushes and his compatriots who’ve enacted laws that stifles freedom of speech and more dangerously enacted the department of home security. And you want to complain about some fools who are slighted looking in the mirror. The real danger in this country is the ultra elite who thinks their shit don’t stink and probably would like too see the rest of us disappear.