Some leftists try to silence apposing ideas or form safe spaces from them because they believe it may harm those who’s own subjective experience is invalidated
The development of a subjective definition of harm made subjective claims to harm a valid reason for protection. Some leftists therefor may call for an authority to prevent certain speakers to express their views, or if that doesn’t work they may instead form safe spaces to isolate themselves from those views. And one reason for this is that, as a Brown University student put it: “Bringing in a speaker like that could serve to invalidate people’s experiences,” which could be “damaging.” The logic here seems to be that some people hold a belief, and for some of them, this belief is based in part on their own lived experience. If, during a debate, the opposition were to disagree with them, she could be taken to be saying that their personal experiences are “invalid” as grounds for their assertion. That could be painful to hear, but should college students interpret emotional pain as a sign that they are in danger?
Going into the twenty-first the concept of safety had expanded from physical safety to include emotional safety . As an illustration, in a debate between two feminist authors, Wendy McElroy and Jessica Valenti, on weather or not America was a rape culture, the student quoted previously, along with other Brown students, attempted to get McElroy, who opposed the idea, disinvited from the debate in order to protect her peers from such “damage.” The effort didn’t pan out, but in response, the president of Brown, Christina Paxson, announced that she disagreed with McElroy, and that during the debate, the college would hold a competing talk about rape culture—without debate—so students have their biases confirmed that America is a rape culture without being confronted by different views.
The competing talk didn’t entirely solve the problem, however. Any student who chose to attend the main debate could still be “triggered” by the presence of McElroy on campus and (on the assumption that students are fragile rather than antifragile) retraumatized. So the student quoted previously worked with other Brown students to create a “safe space” where anyone who felt triggered could recuperate and get help.
References
- Lukianoff, Greg. Haidt, Jonathan. (2019). The Coddling of the American Mind Chapter 1 The Untruth of Fragility What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker (Epub p. 40). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Politics / Psychology Status:☀️