Chewing the Scenery for Social Justice
Speaking, as we were, of academia’s efforts to eradicate stoicism, self-possession and any residual sense of proportion, here’s Noah Rothman marvelling at the pretension and self-flattery of a third year student at Harvard Law School. A student whose acute political consciousness has driven him to the brink of nervous exhaustion:
“Our request for exam extensions is not being made from a position of weakness, but rather from one of strength and critical awareness,” wrote William Desmond in the National Law Journal… “The hesitancy to recognise the validity of these psychic effects demonstrates that, in addition to conversations on race, gender and class, our nation is starving for a genuine discussion about mental health,” he continued. “But to reduce our calls for exam extensions to mere cries for help exhibits a failure to understand the powerful images of die-ins and the booming chants of protestors disrupting the continuation of business as usual in cities across the country.”
You see, you simply fail to comprehend the impact of chants and reclining as expressions of civil disobedience. Their moral gravity eludes you.
If the quotes above lead you to believe that Peak Hyperbole™ must surely have been reached, and camped upon in triumph, I should point out that Mr Desmond, our tearful hero, is barely getting started.
Tissues and fainting couches are available at the back.
Update:
And on the subject of student fortitude, another attempt to escape exams on similar grounds proves equally revealing. Della Kurzer-Zlotnick, a freshman activist at Oberlin College, invoked the “significant trauma” of unspecified “students of colour,” on whose behalf she presumed to speak, as grounds for delaying scheduled exams. Apparently, these traumatised students are “tired” and “hurting beyond belief,” and focussed not on their studies but “on their survival” in a racially oppressive environment. Ms Kurzer-Zlotnick’s own “privilege” as “a white, middle-class person” was dutifully confessed.
When her demand was refused, Ms Kurzer-Zlotnick rushed to Facebook to share her deep, deep feelings:
TRIGGER WARNING: Violent language regarding an extremely dismissive response from a professor. This is an email exchange I had with my professor this evening… We are obviously not preaching to the choir. Professors and administration at Oberlin need to be held accountable for their words and actions and have a responsibility to their students.
The violent and triggering language used by her professor, for which he and the entire college must be held accountable? One word:
No.
…loading the copier with more paper will manifest as a terrible “psychic” threat to their mental well-being.
This sort of thing has been in full swing in the public sector for a long time. A few years ago, my ex’s best friend got herself signed off from her civil service job for an entire month with stress. The reason? She’d taken to using the flexi-time system to work 11am-3pm days every Monday and Friday, and her manager had the audacity to ask her to make up some of the lost hours. She explained that this constituted intimidation, triggering panic attacks.
Possibly of interest. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry on leftist groupthink and the decline of social “science”:
@The original Mr. X, re Freud….Perhaps, but to my point in general I give you this conclusion from the study linked in the article David just posted:
http://the-good-news.storage.googleapis.com/assets/pdf/psychology-political-diversity.pdf
Thus in regard to @Lancastrian Oik’s comment I would like to point to my use of the adjective “genuine”, as in the sense of “as carried out by sensible, well-educated people who are not in thrall to silly Leftist ideas”. Where does one find such sensible, well-educated people?
Hi.
Hi.
Hullo.
Yeah, L.O. I like to think the same but 4 out of 5 psychologists (and 4.99999978656765 out of 5 other educated social scientists, I’ve run the numbers) likely disagree.
That article on political diversity in social psychology (linked by wtp) is excellent.
Students aren’t the only special snowflakes on campus …
The update must be one of the best exchanges I’ve read here.
The update must be one of the best exchanges I’ve read here.
It does set a new benchmark for impossible preciousness. And to think, when I started this blog I wasn’t sure I’d get much use out of the ‘psychodrama’ tag.
Just reading that Duarte et al. paper (CUP, in press) right now – absolutely brilliant – thanks so much for that link.
Nik,
A tiny particle of the academy is belatedly catching up with something that’s hard to miss and has been known for quite some time, and illustrated repeatedly, chiefly by people outside of academia. Yay.
OT Re: The Sony hacking…
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/12/19/obama-says-sony-made-a-mistake-i-wish-they-had-spoken-to-me-first/
Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don’t like or news reports that they don’t like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended.
I don’t need to imagine that. It’s exactly the cultural environment that has been allowed to develop under our present political/media class.
In other news, the basis for the “I’ll ride with you” meme appears to be untrue. Shocker.
Re: Shocker
Confession time.In my Facebook status, I editorialised
Or to put it another way – lied.
Reading through the rest of it is painful:
Tears sprang to my eyes and I was struck by feelings of anger, sadness and bitterness.It was in this mindset that I punched the first status update into my phone, hoping my friends would take a moment to think about the victims of the siege who were not in the café.
The victims of the siege were in the café.