Blog 10/10/15

            The authors believe that college students are becoming over-sensitized to language. Microaggressions and trigger warnings are two categories of language that some college campuses are working to eliminate. I agree that it is important to teach students how to think instead of what to think because my experience with this model of education confirms it (Graff 62). Being exposed to opposing viewpoints has provided me with an opportunity for growth through questioning those beliefs. If college campuses censor expression too much, then the perspectives that college students are exposed to would become one-sided. In order for students to learn what they believe, they must experience both sides of a topic. Regarding trigger warnings, books that address difficult topics like sexual assault can teach readers valuable lessons and provide new perspectives on the issue. Avoiding potential triggers supports fearfulness and prevents growth.

            Additionally, I agree that turning campuses in to "safe spaces" is dangerous, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that banning language that could be potentially offensive is simply “a resurgence of political correctness (Graff 64) (Lukianoff).” Being too concerned with offending anyone and everyone greatly restricts our own expression. At the same time that I believe that freedom of speech is central to our society, I also believe that using truly offensive language is wrong (Graff 25). Of course, racial slurs and sexist remarks are not tolerable, but people sometimes overreact to certain expressions that are not meant to offend.

             Going further, the authors state that universities “are teaching students that their emotions can be used as weapons […] [and] to nurture a kind of hypersensitivity that will lead them into countless drawn-out conflicts in college and beyond (Lukianoff).” This practice is also known as emotional reasoning which means that “negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are (Lukianoff).” Their claim that emotional reasoning is common in college discussions rests upon the questionable assumption that college students jump to conclusions (Graff 60). Just because a person states a belief that another person disagrees with does not equate “a public charge that the speaker has done something objectively wrong (Lukianoff).” Overall, college students must be aware of how they interpret others and how they express themselves. Respecting others is important; however, the freedoms of one group should not limit the freedoms of another.

Lukianoff, Greg, and Jonathan Haidt. “The Coddling of the American Mind.” TheAtlantic.com. The
         Atlantic Monthly Group, Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say I Say. New York: W.W. Norton &
        Company, Inc., 2015. Print.