By SETH J. FRANTZMAN

There was an interesting oped at the Yale Herald on Nov. 6 that seems to have been subsequently removed. Entitled ‘hurt at home’ it was about some local dispute about an email sent by Erika Christakis to some in his college community. The results of his email that apparently claimed Halloween costumes were a kind of free speech and therefore suppressing them under guidelines of “cultural appropriation” was wrong.

The passionate; and that’s the catch-phrase for students, the more passion the better; attack on Christakis is interesting because it highlights many cultural norms among university students in the US.  The “passion”, which consists of a rage-filled attack on Christakis by entitled students, can be seen at youtube.

The email claims that the email “marginalized many students of color in what is supposed to be their home. The email has shown how the leaders “have failed to acknowledge the hurt and pain that such a large part of our community feel. They have again and again shown that they are committed to an ideal of free speech, not to the…community.”  The response was for the Black Student Alliance at Yale to launch the angry shouting down of the offenders in the youtube clip. The writer goes on, “his response once again disappointed many of us. When students tried to tell him about their painful personal experiences as students of color on campus, he responded by making more arguments for free speech. It’s unacceptable when the Master of your college is dismissive of your experiences.”  The student noted that although students need “intellectual stimulation”….they also need “a safe space that all students can come home to.”  He must  provide a conduit for “valid concern” and “where you can feel free to talk with them about your pain without worrying that the conversation will turn into an argument every single time. We are supposed to feel encouraged to go to our Master…and feel that our opinions will be respected and heard.”

These community leaders have not “fostered this sense of community. He seems to lack the ability, quite frankly, to put aside his opinions long enough to listen to the very real hurt that the community feels. He doesn’t get it. And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain.”  The students, posing as being suppressed and offended, must “defend their right to this institution. This email and the subsequent reaction to it have interrupted their lives. I have friends who are not going to class, who are not doing their homework, who are losing sleep, who are skipping meals, and who are having breakdowns. I feel drained.”   The “students were vulnerable and shared deeply personal stories…he has hurt people. The closest he has gotten to this is sending out an open invitation to brunch at his house to further discuss the issue. Essentially, it was an invitation to debate more. But we don’t want to debate more. We want to be able to go home at night in a place where we feel welcome and wanted.”  The student went on, claiming there must be no more debate, “he needs to stop trying to argue with people who are hurting, regardless of his personal opinions.”  The students were being “marginalized…he hasn’t checked in on any of us. He hasn’t given us any indication that he is going to or wants to heal the community. If you know I’m in pain and you aren’t doing anything to try to help me, then how can you be sorry?”

You could be forgiven for reading the above and feeling it is the thoughts of a teenager, not an adult, but a high school student. But many students today act like 15 year olds did in the 1990s.  The college experience now has become an extension of high school.  Compare the endless whining and fabricated victimhood in the Yale article to the one a Canadian volunteer who fought with the YPG against ISIS wrote.  In America the requirement to be a victim is everywhere.  One’s victim status determines ones success.  There is a cult of being offended. The more one is offended, the more successful they are in university.  To be a victim, means to be successful.  The number of people in the US claiming suppression, victimhood and offense is inversely correlated to the amount of racism that actually exists. The less racism, the more people suffer racism in the US.  That is because to have “suffered” is a badge today, a path to success.  Safe spaces and “feelings” and being in “pain” all the time is the name of the game.

Welcome to the future of America. The next generation growing up today will be adults (they already are legally, not emotionally obviously), and they will demand a life of “safe space”…they will grow up having learned that the world must be a dictatorship to their “feelings” and their “feeling threatened.”