Weaponising victimhood on the American campus

An Ivy League university leads the way in repudiating reasoned debate.

Carolyn Moynihan | Apr 3 2017 | comment

Free speech is becoming a major issue on university campuses. Shouting down invited speakers accused of “micro-aggressions” and demanding that universities become “safe spaces” for an ever-increasing gamut of minority sensitivities is the order of the day. This trend seems to be far advanced at Brown University, an Ivy League college with a reputation for student radicalism.

In the following 13-minute documentary Ron Montz, a graduate of Brown, traces this censorious and aggressive movement since Ray Kelly, a former New York police chief was invited to invited to give a lecture about controversial “stop and frisk” policies in 2013. Student activists shut down the event before it could start, with slogans like “Racism is not for debate”.

University staff and students who disagree with censorship of unpopular opinions (“North America does not have a rape culture” – this, from a woman speaker who had been raped), or opinions from the wrong sorts of people (such as white, heterosexual male university administrators advancing a diversity policy) are also shouted down and branded as white supremacists and so on.

Glenn Loury, a black economics professor, insists that the university is “a place for reasoned debate, not for encouraging adolescent “tantrums”. He calls the current “shout them down” trend “tyranny”, and “a profound error.” However, the university president, Christina Paxson has capitulated to those “weaponising victimhood”, as Montz puts it, and joined their ranks for all practical purposes.

A former (black) president of Brown, Ruth Simmons, has called learning “the antithesis of comfort”, but the present leadership has tuned that wise saying on its head.

Tomorrow: What has become of Yale.

- See more at: https://www.mercatornet.com/features/view/weaponising-victimhood-on-the-american-campus/19587#sthash.AifbQzCF.dpuf

April 3, 2017

Much to my surprise, a book about Christians defying the surrounding secular culture has become a New York Times best-seller. The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, however, is about plans for a peaceful retreat rather than for an overwhelming victory. In the vision of journalist Rod Dreher, Christians need to leave the public square and form close-knit communities where they can practice their faith authentically.

There are some precedents for this. Take the Amish. In 1900 there were only 5,000 in the United States; in 2016 there were more than 300,000. They have prospered and spread throughout the country. And they have practically no influence on American politics.

If Christians return to the catacombs from which they came 1700 years ago, their enemies will be delighted; the public square will become their playground. Michael Kirke explores this fascinating issue in his review below.