November 16, 2016

Why Academic "Safe Space" is Absurd and Self-Contradictory


 
As an American, I am embarrassed that so many U.S. "higher learning" institutions are reinforcing "safe space" havens that are censored from intellectual discourse after the 2016 presidential election. The safe space concept began in England with the idea that LGBT college students needed an environment free from harassment. This, however, has not only become a permanent feature of higher education, but the umbrella and purpose of the safe space subject matter is widening to the degree that most cutting-edge subjects cannot be actively debated for fear of committing a hate crime. Colleges and universities have become politicized with PC liberal-secular values to the point where only one world-view ideology is permissible.  
       
Think about it. The classic philosopher Socrates promoted questions and live debate because this provides probably the best method for revealing misconceptions. But the "safe space" idea promotes the opposite, isolation from any challenges to personal preconceptions. This is absurd when considered in an academic context. When I explained to my 4th-grade son that college students were being given crayons and Play-Doh in order to escape from reality for a little while and to feel better after the "tragic" Trump victory, he didn't believe me. But it's true, with many examples.
 
Leading up to the 2016 election, some
Emory University students demanded safe space after seeing "Trump 2016" written in chalk on a sidewalk. After the legal election, Cornell University supported a "cry in" for students: "Willard Straight Hall Resource Center employees gave out blankets, tissues and hot chocolate to keep participants warm, while students signed posters with words of encouragement and protest, including 'Donald Trump is not my president,'" The University of Massachusetts issued an invitation to deal with the implied traumatic election results: "Today there is a Post-election self-care session from 12-4pm in Moloney. The event will include cookies, mandalas, stress reduction techniques and mindfulness activities. Counseling and Health Services will also be available." Universities such as Michigan U. provided their students with crayons and Play-Doh. 

These institutions are basically promoting prejudice, ignorance and dysfunctional immaturity. Blame for this dysfunction should probably not be placed on the students, but on the leaders of these institutions. This type of mindset is not limited to one day, but is pervasive throughout the standard PC liberal-secular education.  
        
The promotion of college and university "safe spaces" to help with the implied grand tragedy of a Trump election is prejudiced against students that support his pro-life and anti-corruption platform. It basically implies that anyone that supported Trump is a threat. Well, it's not difficult to show that Clinton's egregious crimes, crony corruption and radical last-day abortion agenda were a greater threat to life and liberty.
  
Treating college students like victimized infants promotes ignorance because the entire reaction is based mainly on mainstream media propaganda against Trump, exposed and documented as fraudulent to such an extent that the NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger wrote that the Times will now "rededicate" itself to "reporting on America and the world honestly." I have debated a number of people on election issues and I was surprised at the overall ignorance of Clinton supporters when it came to issues of abortion, Planned Parenthood and facts regarding governmental corruption.

Safe space environments promote immaturity in that students are not learning how to analyze news and ideas to test for truth. Students should be learning critical thinking skills and to discuss and debate root concepts and philosophies in a civilized manner. Rather, students are being encouraged more so to resort to name calling, to shaming others with different values, destruction and violence. It's really ultimately a promotion of gross infantilism, totalitarian hegemony and Saul Alinsky tactics, rather than higher learning.
    
The real shocker is not that an anti-establishment candidate won the U.S. election, but that the reasons for this win are all the more on display after the election by the liberal-secular high priests and false prophets of our society. Educational "safe spaces" are not safe at all, but are really an undermining of centuries of rational aspects of Western education in favor of highly-politicized propaganda and indoctrination.The dumbing-down of the population through education is such an atrocity that it is difficult to imagine it could possibly be intentional. However, there are a number of examples.

Barnes and Noble's #1 Bestseller in its History of Education category is a tome by former U.S. Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research. Her book, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, documents how the American public education system has worked to eliminate the influences of a child's parents (religion, morals, national patriotism), and mold the child into a member of the proletariat in preparation for a socialist-collectivist world of the future. It is available to read for free with a download, at this link.

Wikileaks revealed that Hillary Clinton's
John Podesta corresponded with a colleague from the Center for American Progress admitting that the institutional left “conspires to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry,” ostensibly to impose their radical agenda on us without much resistance. What is more ignorant and complaint than an infant? What is more dangerous than a generation of people that cannot think for themselves but are trained to off-hand despise others with different values? What is around the corner for society is truly frightening in this regard. If you are in need of some reprieve after considering the very low state of academia in present Western Civilization, I can't offer you crayons or Play-Doh over the Internet, but I can offer some comic relief with this South Park video, "In My Safe Space".

Romans 1.22 sums up the absurd "safe space" academic approach.

"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools," (KJV)

(South Park webclip image is for sake of satire)
      
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Following is the full letter to students from the U-Mass faculty:
   
From: Otero, Elsie F
Date: Wed, Nov 9, 2016 at 10:49 AM
Subject: Post Election Support
Dear Students,
We at the Multicultural Affairs Office hope this email reaches you and you are doing ok. We know many of you stayed up waiting to hear of the election results. These are unprecedented times. The nation as well as our community is reacting in many different ways. We are reaching out to each of you because we know that this was an intense election and we are already hearing a number of reactions, feelings and emotions. This is a critical time to make sure that you, your friends, classmates, neighbors are doing ok and seeking the appropriate support especially if they need a place to process or work through what they’re feeling.
You may hear or notice reactions both immediate and in the coming weeks, some anticipated and many that may be difficult to articulate or be shared. While it may take some time to fully take in all the recent events, please also know that the OMA office is here for you. Our UMass Lowell community is here for you. Do not hesitate at all to come in or ask for support.
Today there is a Post-election self-care session from 12-4pm in Moloney. The event will include cookies, mandalas, stress reduction techniques and mindfulness activities. Counseling and Health Services will also be available. We have sent out messages through our Social Media sites as well as encouraging students to drop in all week. Above all, take good care and know that there is strength in our community that you can lean on.
Kind regards,
Office of Multicultural Affairs Staff
Leslie Wong, Director
Elsie Otero, Associate Director
Francine Coston, Associate Director
Allyson Lynch, Coordinator
Michelle, Zohlman, Graduate Fellow
Elsie Otero
Associate Director, Office of Multicultural Affairs
University of Massachusetts Lowell
220 Pawtucket Street, Suite 366
Lowell, MA 01845

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Tags: what is a safe space?, why are there safe spaces in colleges?,what's wrong with safe spaces?, indoctrination in higher learning, decline of Western Civilization, dumbing-down of population,  infantilized college 

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