http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dear-persecuted-college-conservative_us_584a4179e4b0151082221a02?
Worth a read and not dismissive or hostile.
Hallelujah. It’s like people who say they’re oppressed when people say “happy holidays.”
Response may have no (legitimate) hostility because it was written by another white guy “American living in Shanghai.” Isn’t he appropriating someone else’s rebuttal?
Nope.
I wouldn’t describe conservatives as oppressed, but I wonder if the author has ever set foot in Saudi Arabia or Iran? Some of his goals may be irreconcilable.
@marvin100 Well, while I don’t adhere to crying foul for “misappropriation” usually, here- yes!- the writer stole an argument from someone like TA-Nehisi Coates or Ilhan Omar or anyone else who has not known white male privilege frankly. He rattles off a laundry list of stereotypic “oppressed” situations that are commonly reported by The New York Times. I don’t object to his conclusion that the conservative is no victim or outcast but maybe the Huff Post could have sought out a more appropriate speaker.
Nevermind. Not worth…
So you’re making a disingenuous argument? There’s a word for that on the Internet, but it’s not allowed here. Anyway, I won’t bother responding to it, since you don’t even stand behind it to begin with.
“You will never have to hold your tongue while people hurl slurs toward you.”
At my D’s and other young friends’ schools, people who hold conservative or even independent views have had slurs hurled towards them and have been told they are or will be ostracized if people know their views. They have even been told to be silent (if they weren’t already intimidated into silence). These people have been afraid–not just discomfited–to discuss politics. Isn’t that oppression?
Thankfully, at my D’s school, the faculty discourages this, so it comes only from the students. Hopefully, the students are learning to value the free, respectful, intellectual exchange of ideas that the faculty appears to espouse, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is still an oppressive environment for those who don’t hold the views the majority of students.
(Full disclosure, if this matters–but it shouldn’t: I consider myself an independent, as does D.)
^^^I meant to say, “That doesn’t seem to be the case yet.”
The author writes:
“Let’s make something very clear: the discomfort you feel when voicing your political beliefs (liberal or conservative) is not the same as being a member of a historically oppressed group.”
While it may be true that what the author describes does not make a person a member of a historically oppressed group it does describe oppression. Oppression can happen in the present and being afraid to speak does describe oppression. Oppression does not have to exist for hundreds of years to be valid.
All this “microaggression” stuff is a bit much. When did people develop such sensitivities? OTOH, in recent months, it seems it has become acceptable to be verbally abusive and aggressive. There should be a happy medium.
Being socially ostracized for having particular views on politics and religion while unpleasant, sometimes even harshly so is a part of life and not “oppression”.
For instance, I wouldn’t be surprised if vocally bona-fide pro-Marxist/Maoists I knew from college end up being “ostracized” in a sense when they are turned down for a job at most financial industry/investment banking related jobs or if somehow hired, end up being placed on a prioritization list of those to be immediately fired/laid off if they vocalize those views too much.
Heck, I got a taste of this at a job interview for a small financial firm during my senior year of college around the end of the '90s when the interviewer decided to stereotype me on the basis of where I went for undergrad and assumed I was a “pinko commie troublemaker” upon seeing where I went to college on my resume within 5 minutes of the interview.
In fact, as some vocal conservatives in recent years would put it “free speech has consequences” and one consequence of voicing an opinion one disagrees with on a personal social basis is the possibility of ostracism by an individual or even a private group one is a part of/hopes to join.
Another thing to think about is that private individuals and organizations to a more limited extent(doesn’t always apply to private businesses operating businesses open to the public) who ostracize on the basis of disagreeing with one’s viewpoints or more importantly, viewpoints expressed disagreeably are also exercising their free speech rights and association.
And unlike the EEOC protected classes, ostracism on the basis of disagreement over opinions or the manner in which they are expressed aren’t considered protected discriminatory classes…especially when it comes to private individuals such as fellow college classmates.
This entire article is based upon this assumption by the author:
Straw man argument. The “Persecuted College Conservative” never wrote that. “The way you phrased your argument makes it sound like…”, and then the writer filled it in with whatever he wanted. So now people can have an entire discussion based upon assumptions about something a person never wrote in the first place, but hey, it’s all good. We can pretend, right?
@marvin100 Wow, you just don’t want to hear what is wrong with this article. I’m a legit long time frequent contributor to CC, and I deserve respect. You started the thread merely to “enlighten” CC readers. I was wrong to think you were soliciting comments. May our paths never cross again.
While you are right @Oregon2016 , labelling yourself as a “longtime” poster, having been here less than a year, made me smile :)>-
@Oregon2016, agreed. Sadly these type of threads are not created to solicit a conversation with differing points of view. Yes, they are started to “enlighten” us, and if you disagree, you shall be attacked. Kind of pathetic that people can’t have a differing opinion and still be treated respectfully.
Wait…perhaps marvin is attempting to illustrate the Persecuted College Conservatives point of view? 