Oops. I read way too quickly and jumped the gun. Sorry, Loukydad. (Though I agree with some of your larger points about how trivial these kinds of “microaggressions” are, and I for one feel no need to collectively apologize for what some other white people have done.)
To try to lighten the mood, here’s Louis CK on being white, and talking about stuff that’s quite topical for this conversation (seriously, I mean it—the last minute of this clip is exactly what we’re talking about in this thread):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CmzT4OV-w0
(Warning, though: NSFW language.)
The entire micro-aggression discussion is a way of that the SJW’s that run college campuses want to control speech. Look at some of the word or phrases that college have been banned. The phrase “The job should go to the most qualified person” is a perfect example of the political view points the micoaggressors want banished. They want jobs to go to people based on some race/class/perceived gender based, not merit.
What does “SJW” mean?
Social justice warrior
What college has banned that phrase?
@OhMomof2 That evil phrase popped up about a year ago in California…
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/
EDIT: Found a better reference and link.
Whew. Did the UCs actually implement the suggestion not to use that term?
This whole thing was skewered on South Park tonight. Did anyone see it?
In short, variants of what used to be called “backhanded compliments” which were often intended to insult while providing the one making them a cover because most people wouldn’t immediately think one can insult others through compliments.
And it’s not just in personal social interactions here in the US. An extreme-right wing group in Japan used a variant of this to undermine a politician by paying a loudspeaker truck to go around making exaggerated compliments about his political record which were so over-the-top beyond his actual achievements that it was commonly understood among the Japanese political press that those “compliments” were meant to damage his political career.
Cobrat - sorry to be pedantic but from what I gather you are describing something that is clearly intentional as an insult. Isn’t this supposed to be about something the person offending isn’t even aware of, unconscious bias? That is part of what is maddening to some about the whole concept.
The actual UC document is here:
Some will still be offended, but in context, with the explanations in the right-hand column, a lot of these make sense.
I think the specific example minimizes the very real difficulties that minorities and women have had and continue to have in moving beyond people’s expectations (glass ceilings and admission to elite programs).
And having some guidelines makes sense for a university type environment. Do you want your deans to not understand how some of these, if stated repeatedly in a professional environment, could either be dismissive or insulting to one or more groups.
And, there are many forms of merit, beyond SAT scores, unless you just don’t value diversity or think it is OK for boardrooms to be filled with good ol’ boys.
Maybe we can see what the University of California has to say.
So no, nothing was banned. Try again!
Lol. I think it’s great there are still comedians out there who don’t give a crap about political correctness.
Bill Burr is another one… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3HiKQDPCQ
Any time you look at a list of these microaggressive statements, there are some on the list that anybody would recognize as inappropriate (“you’re a credit to your race”), and others that (in my opinion) are pretty silly. But there are a lot in between (I think “articulate” is an example). I don’t think the choice is to swallow the whole thing, or to throw out the whole thing.
@warbrain - Yes, UC President Meron backpedaled after the list of microaggressions went public.
For sure. It’s about raising awareness, not universities banning phrases.
Raising awareness so that 1) the general public or college community can think twice before using such phrases with people they meet and 2) develop an awareness of the rude (to them at least) stuff our peers are hearing multiple times a day or week.
IDK, but that seems like a fine idea to me.
Last night, my brain thought, “Forina and Rubio are the most articulate,” but because of this thread I bit my tongue, for fear someone would think I was microagressing women and Hispanics. Lol
@Bay You mean it as a verb as in “they articulated their thoughts well” vs. an adjective as in they are articulate people.
Bay as long as you don’t sound surprised, and as long as you include Dr. Carson too, you are fine.