It used to be that college was a place you went to get outside the echo chamber of your youth. There, on campus and out of your childhood home, you would be exposed to ideas and viewpoints you might never have heard before. You would realize that the world is bigger and stranger and more wonderful than your hometown might suggest.
But in the last few years, as “open-mindedness” became a synonym for “liberalism,” things have changed. College isn’t a place for students to open their minds; it’s a place for indoctrination. Conservative thought has become unacceptable on many prominent campuses, and many far-left ideas have grown beyond the confines of academic radicalism to achieve mainstream acceptance.
Now, young millennial liberals are increasingly unable to even hear certain opinions without having a seizure. Thus we have the rise of “safe spaces,” a term which seems to replace the older, more accurate term: “echo chambers.” Thus we have the rise of “trigger warnings,” a term that has no antecedent because this is the first generation sensitive enough to require them.
How ridiculous are trigger warnings getting? Very. At the University of Iowa, they recently released a campus crime alert warning students of a sexual predator filming co-eds in the shower. The man got away, and the school issued the alert to make sure women knew what to look out for. But included at the top of the report was an odd bit of business:
“Trigger Warning: This warning addresses a report of sexual misconduct. Resources are available on and off campus to provide assistance.”
Provide assistance…for what? The extraordinary emotional toll brought about by reading the report? Guys….guys….hold on….just…just stop. If you are so fragile and racked with PTSD that you can’t read a crime alert without breaking down, you need serious mental therapy. That’s not a joke. You seriously need to be in a psychiatric program. Call your parents, tell them you’re not ready for the real world yet, and try again in another year.
No one is dismissing the obvious emotional struggle that follows sexual victimization. But at the same time, the world isn’t filled with Nerf and hugs and candy canes. Life is tough. As they say, no one gets out alive. In the meantime, wouldn’t we be better served by trying to catch criminals than by protecting people from their own memories? Does that even work? If you’re really so easily triggered, wouldn’t the trigger warning itself be enough to…
Sigh. If George Washington could see us now.
