MOTUS A.D.: Paraphrase of the Week

Friday, November 13, 2015

Paraphrase of the Week

And this week’s award goes to…Mona Charen:

There was a much-beloved quote circulated among leftists, often attributed to Sinclair Lewis, that “when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” In light of recent episodes of mob action on American campuses, the quote needs updating: When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in “diversity” and demanding “safe spaces.” - H/T Doug Ross

Mona continues on to imply that making a mockery of higher education by offering courses on Martha Stewart’s “whiteness” and Fifty Shades of Gray might contribute to students lack of knowledge of even the basic principles of rational thought. Which might come in handy when it comes to hurt feelings, “marginalization,” intolerance (yes Virginia, irony is dead) and totalitarian behavior.

Behold, a college professor, exercising her freedom of speech – without a whiff of irony:

“You need to get out of here!” Hey who wants to help me get this reporter out of here!”

Brendan O’Neill at Spiked nails it: these delicate little snowflakes demanding “safe spaces” from the hostile environment are the logical outcome of the older generation’s proclivity for undermining the foundations of free speech:

The New Statesman (claims) that today’s intolerant yoof are ‘rebelling against their parents’ generation and its liberal deification of free speech’. Excuse me? What liberal deification of free speech? The older generation – including some of (the) very people going pop-eyed over the Yale snowflakes – has been chipping away at free speech for decades. And in the process they nurtured the world we now inhabit, in which words and images are seen as dangerous and our sense of self-worth is viewed as so fragile that we must squash anything, or idea, that threatens it.

Umm, what did you expect would happen to a house without a foundation?

But what’s even more pathetic is the ridicule of the snowflakes by the very generation who created this world in which words are seen as wounding, judgement is considered harmful, and everyone is treated as fragile. Having claimed for 30 years that offensive discussion, or porn or racist newspapers, create a ‘hostile environment’, can the older generation really be surprised that students are now setting up Safe Spaces? The Safe Space is the logical solution to the notion that words and images cultivate a ‘hostile environment’.

And then there is Milo Yiannopoulos observations on the only possible outcome given the trajectory the progressive left put us on:

You’ll forgive me if I lack sympathy. Conservatives have warned for decades that the proliferation of women’s studies, colonial studies, gay studies, and an assortment of other oppression-studies courses would end in tears. We also warned you that campus speech codes were a bad idea.

And when conservatives and critics of Islam started being banned on campuses up and down the country, we warned you that a tidal wave of zealotry, intolerance, and even totalitarianism was coming. Now it’s here. As a famous internet meme goes, you only had to listen. Now it’s too late.

Do the words “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” mean anything to you? Jonathan Rauch suggests an easy fix, the only “trigger warning” that should be necessary on campuses across the country:

“Warning: Although this university values and encourages civil expression and respectful personal behavior, you may at any moment, and without further notice, encounter ideas, expressions and images that are mistaken, upsetting, dangerous, prejudiced, insulting or deeply offensive. We call this education.” – Powerline

So let the buyer beware: you pay your money and you take your chances. Sorry snowflakes, no refunds, even if the whole earth warms up and you meltdown.