If you want to know just how spineless and whiny the youth have gotten, I give you what should be exhibit A in the case of “Reality versus Coddled Annoying Youth.”
It’s aptly entitled, “Hurt At Home” [emphasis added]:
As a Silimander, I feel that my home is being threatened. Last week, Erika Christakis, the associate master of Silliman College, sent an email to the Silliman community that called an earlier entreaty for Yalies to be more sensitive about culturally appropriating Halloween costumes a threat to free speech. In the aftermath of the email, I saw my community divide. She did not just start a political discourse as she intended. She marginalized many students of color in what is supposed to be their home. But more disappointing than the original email has been the response of Christakis and her husband, Silliman Master Nicholas Christakis. They 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 Silliman community.
Today, when a group of us, organized originally by the Black Student Alliance at Yale, spoke with Christakis in the Silliman Courtyard, 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 Silliman Master’s role is not only to provide intellectual stimulation, but also to make Silliman a safe space that all students can come home to. His responsibility is to make it a place where your experiences are a valid concern to the administration 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 Associate Master with our concerns and feel that our opinions will be respected and heard.
But, in his ten weeks as a leader of the college, Master Christakis has 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.
Sweet baby Jesus. This bears repeating:
And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain.
What a pathetic infantile statement. She literally says that the student community is opposed to free speech when she sets the two against each other in the first paragraph. You’re either for our feelings, or you’re with free speech. And she thinks this is a persuasive argument. Just incredible.
Oh but it gets worse:
My dad is a really stubborn man. We debate all the time, and I understand the value of hearing differing opinions. But there have been times when I have come to my father crying, when I was emotionally upset, and he heard me regardless of whether or not he agreed with me. He taught me that there is a time for debate, and there is a time for just hearing and acknowledging someone’s pain.
I thought the whole point of going to college was gain some independence and test yourself and conquer the world, but apparently today some kids want to be treated like children for the rest of their lives.
I have had to watch my friends 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. And through it all, Christakis has shown that he does not consider us a priority.
Let me just point out the original offense was this guy saying that people should be allowed to wear whatever Halloween costumes they want – if you’re losing sleep and having a breakdown because someone wears a Mexican costume, you should be institutionalized, not in a higher institution of learning.
When just a few people challenged this idiot on Twitter…
https://twitter.com/OhioCoastie/status/662767695612497920
…she stayed true to her policy of feelings over debate, and shut down her account:
This country is doomed.