"Vindictive protectiveness", "catastrophizing", "magnification" -- doesn't just happen in colleges

[Silent3]

Last edited Sun Aug 23, 2015, 09:53 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

This article is about colleges and universities, but it applies very well to much of social media, and the way many potentially interesting discussion sadly deteriorate quickly.

The ultimate aim, it seems, is to turn campuses into “safe spaces” where young adults are shielded from words and ideas that make some uncomfortable. And more than the last, this movement seeks to punish anyone who interferes with that aim, even accidentally. You might call this impulse vindictive protectiveness. It is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up, lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression, or worse.

...A principle of moral psychology is that “morality binds and blinds.” Part of what we do when we make moral judgments is express allegiance to a team. But that can interfere with our ability to think critically. Acknowledging that the other side’s viewpoint has any merit is risky—your teammates may see you as a traitor.

Social media makes it extraordinarily easy to join crusades, express solidarity and outrage, and shun traitors...

Because there is a broad ban in academic circles on “blaming the victim,” it is generally considered unacceptable to question the reasonableness (let alone the sincerity) of someone’s emotional state, particularly if those emotions are linked to one’s group identity. The thin argument “I’m offended” becomes an unbeatable trump card. This leads to what Jonathan Rauch, a contributing editor at this magazine, calls the “offendedness sweepstakes,” in which opposing parties use claims of offense as cudgels. In the process, the bar for what we consider unacceptable speech is lowered further and further.

Burns defines magnification as “exaggerat(ing) the importance of things,” and Leahy, Holland, and McGinn define labeling as “assign(ing) global negative traits to yourself and others.” The recent collegiate trend of uncovering allegedly racist, sexist, classist, or otherwise discriminatory microaggressions doesn’t incidentally teach students to focus on small or accidental slights. Its purpose is to get students to focus on them and then relabel the people who have made such remarks as aggressors.

Please try to read the whole article if you can. I can't do it justice with only a few pulled quotes.

[LWolf]

1. I read the whole article.

Whatever the original source, I see the "pathological thinking" referred to deeply embedded in American culture. It's not just evident on college campuses or here at DU. It's everywhere we look.

The increasing polarization, the vindictive protectiveness, hostility to having one's thinking or pov challenged...it's everywhere.

How do we apply cognitive behavioral therapy to an entire population?

[ryan_cats]

2. You forgot to include a trigger warning for the delicate flowers. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. The whole op is filled with nano (or at least pico-) aggressions.

cuz you never know.

[Silent3]

7. I was afraid the word "trigger" itself might need a trigger warning...

...given the association of triggers with gun violence. I'd have been stuck in an endless loop!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. An english professor showed me her course evaluations the other day

To say discussing film noir as a vehicle to address the evolving portrayal of sexuality in literature went over poorly with about a quarter of the class would be an understatement. And oh yeah, apparently the implied cunnilingus in "The Big Combo" is a depiction of rape. (as I recall the guy disappears to the bottom of the screen and then the girl's eyes bug out and then fades out, really graphic stuff)

[a la izquierda]

5. I'm a university professor. I don't use trigger warnings.

I teach Latin American history. The whole damn history would have to have trigger warnings. I don't show movies with tons of violence and I don't show anything with rape scenes. But if a person can't deal with the violence that is history, they do not need to take history classes.

[hifiguy]

6. There are occasional epidemic outbreaks here.

And 95% of the time it is the same handful of sanctimonious, shrieking assholes who are responsible.

[Rex]

9. .

DU has a handful of repeat assholes that can't keep from making alt accounts and trying their best to ruin it for the other thousands of people. Sad but true.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. ...

I'm a university professor

I hear a lot about all this, but I've never seen an instance of it.

Oh well. I'll defer to y'all.

You know better, I'm sure.

[Silent3]

13. Perhaps it varies from place to place.

I haven't been in college myself for a while, so I have no direct experience with that particularly.

I have, however, seen changes outside of the college environment reflecting some of what's discussed in this article. I'm pretty sure DU was the first place I ever saw a post with the disclaimer "TRIGGER WARNING", for example.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Oh, certainly

I wouldn't claim that because I haven't seen any of this, it doesn't exist.

Just adding a data point.

[DemocraticWing]

16. Seems like a lot of hair-on-fire nonsense really

People take 3 or 4 examples from the many thousands upon thousands of college classes in America, and use it to simultaneously whine about liberals, young people, and minorities.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. I'm glad someone else said it

[seveneyes]

11. Someone always looking for the head of someone

It can get recursive at times ...

[Oneironaut]

12. What we're seeing here is a very Fascist mindset.

It's basically, "Conform 100% to what we think is acceptable and the 'right' opinions, or we'll demand that some authority or power punish you!" Also, people with 'wrong' opinions are subject to social media witchhunts that aim to ruin their lives.

It's not just political correctness - it's politics as well. These people have obnoxious Fascist mindsets that do not allow them to see the merits of any opinion than their own. Also, they see anyone with a dissenting opinion as some inhuman monster that needs to be destroyed by some authority figure (the government, a social media mob, etc.).

When navigating the world, something is bound to offend you. I find the concept of a sterilized, "offense-free" world creepy - like one of those cheesy dystopian movies where no one is allowed to have free thought. Also, people are going to have different opinions - why not listen to them rather than saying, "I am right 100% of the time, and everyone else is either an idiot or has bad intentions?"

[Silent3]

14. I'd give some concrete examples of topics that would set off that kind of reaction on DU...

...but doing so would almost certainly set off that kind of reaction on DU.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. I see it as more of a Jay and Silent Bob mindset

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