The Coddling of the American Mind

[Skybird]

It may be subtle still in America, maybe yes, maybe not, I do not judge it - but over here in Europe and Germany, it is a rampaging pandemic.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...n-mind/399356/

[Oberon]

Yeah, I must admit I can agree to some extent with this. I mean there's being sensitive and then there's being ridiculous. The example given with Harvard with rape law or using the word violate is an example of ridiculousness. Being sensitive by not making jokes about transgenderism in front of a transgendered person or calling a homosexual a 'queer' is not ridiculous, since the latter uses a word which has been given a derogatory term (like ****** to coloured people) and the former is plain rude.
But you get this in all walks, there will always be people wanting to go too far about things, wanting to ban this, censor that, restrict this, and then there are some people who think we should be able to say or do anything, no matter how offensive it is...and funnily enough, when they get offended by something suddenly that rule doesn't apply any more. Strange old world.

Right, well, that's probably the only left leaning post in this thread, I shall hand it over to the no doubt deluge of 'Good old boys' (never did no-one any harm) who will gripe about how Political Correctness has gone mad and no longer lets them call their boy a faggot because he likes My Little Pony.

Carry on.

[Kptlt. Neuerburg]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Right, well, that's probably the only left leaning post in this thread, I shall hand it over to the no doubt deluge of 'Good old boys' (never did no-one any harm) who will gripe about how Political Correctness has gone mad and no longer lets them call their boy a faggot because he likes My Little Pony.

Carry on.

Yes because how dare someone call their boy a bundle of sticks because he likes MLP!

EDIT: So I did read the article and there where plenty of things that do seem to be bordering on or have crossed the lines of ridiculousness. For example

Originally Posted by The Atlantic

Two terms have risen quickly from obscurity into common campus parlance. Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as a kind of violence nonetheless. For example, by some campus guidelines, it is a microaggression to ask an Asian American or Latino American “Where were you born?,” because this implies that he or she is not a real American. Trigger warnings are alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response. For example, some students have called for warnings that Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart describes racial violence and that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays misogyny and physical abuse, so that students who have been previously victimized by racism or domestic violence can choose to avoid these works, which they believe might “trigger” a recurrence of past trauma.

So by the logic of asking an Asian or Latino American the question "Where were you born?", does that mean it is a microagression to ask them "Where are you from?", for the same reason? In the second instance does this mean that all books which feature racism, racial violence, and/or domestic violence should be banned for fear of someone getting offended? The other examples are thus

This new climate is slowly being institutionalized, and is affecting what can be said in the classroom, even as a basis for discussion. During the 2014–15 school year, for instance, the deans and department chairs at the 10 University of California system schools were presented by administrators at faculty leader-training sessions with examples of microaggressions. The list of offensive statements included: “America is the land of opportunity” and “I believe the most qualified person should get the job.”

Now how does the phrase "America is the land of opportunity" offensive to anyone, especially when this statement is one of the factors that have driven and still drive people to leave their home countries and immigrate to America. Now the statement "I believe the most qualified person should get the job" as an offensive statement is one that is quite ridiculous, since the most qualified person is the one who tends to have more experience and knowledge of that position, although it isn't strictly correct in a case where a person has worked in that position for a number of years but failed to totally do their job correctly or partly didn't do the job correctly.

[Wolferz]

Tuck the head under a rock...

[Catfish]

Make no mistake, this kind of imbecility is striving at german universities, too.

[Skybird]

^ This.

But the point is that it is already out in the wild beyond the academical world, too: public schools, media, politics, business world and economics.