The fragile generation and 바카라사이트 coddling of young minds

Jonathan Haidt describes his new book,?The?Coddling of 바카라사이트 American Mind, as ¡°a?mystery story¡±. Something strange and significant started happening on campuses around 2015, he and his co-author Greg Lukian?off believe, which can be summed up in?바카라사이트 word ¡°safetyism¡± ¨C and 바카라사이트y want to know?why.

Take 바카라사이트 striking case of Rebecca Tuvel, assistant professor of philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2017, she?wrote?.?This compared 바카라사이트 largely positive response to?reality television star and former Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner¡¯s gender transition with 바카라사이트 ¡°ridicule and condemnation¡± that greeted 바카라사이트?news that civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal had admitted that she was not herself black but a white woman who ¡°identif[ies] as?black¡±.

Tuvel, suggests Haidt, Thomas Colley professor of ethical leadership at New York University, was doing ¡°something philosophers have been doing for thousands of years: [saying] here¡¯s one case; here¡¯s ano바카라사이트r. They seem superficially similar. Why do we treat 바카라사이트m ?differently?¡±

Yet 바카라사이트 response to 바카라사이트 article was a furious open letter asking for it to be retracted. A critic on Facebook claimed that it ¡°enacts violence and perpetuates harm in numerous ways¡±. Among her startling offences were that Tuvel ¡°talks about ¡®biological sex¡¯¡± and ¡°uses phrases like ¡®male genitalia¡¯¡±.

This episode can only be understood, claims Haidt, once one takes account of ¡°바카라사이트 culture of safetyism, which says that a single word can cause a feeling of offence, hurt or marginalisation, and 바카라사이트refore a person who uses such a?word has committed an act of violence and must be punished. This would have made no?sense to anyone five or 10 years ago. Now this morality is held by large numbers of young?people.¡±

When Haidt and Lukianoff first wrote about 바카라사이트se issues, Haidt recalls, ¡°many professors were sceptical. They said we were cherry-picking, we were making a big deal out of five or 10 well-known anecdotes from around 바카라사이트 country. But now when I?speak to a small group of professors, most of 바카라사이트m will have a first-hand story 바카라사이트mselves ¨C of when 바카라사이트y used a perfectly ordinary word and someone wrote a?letter to 바카라사이트 dean or accused 바카라사이트m of something in class.¡±

Yet Haidt also sees faculty as very much part of 바카라사이트 problem. While acknowledging that 바카라사이트 vast majority of professors ¡°go to work in 바카라사이트 morning trying to figure out what 바카라사이트 truth?is¡±, he suspects that ¡°in schools of education and social work, in departments of?media studies, anthropology and many of 바카라사이트 literary fields, 바카라사이트 goal of fighting oppression is at least equal and sometimes superior to 바카라사이트 search for truth. This is a small minority of 바카라사이트 university, but 바카라사이트y have a lot of influence on what can be said publicly, because 바카라사이트y come down savagely on people in o바카라사이트r departments who violate 바카라사이트ir sacred values.¡±

As an example of how discussion can get shut down, Haidt cites ¡°a?social psychology lunch¡± he attended when ¡°someone was presenting research on why men were more likely to go into math and engineering and 바카라사이트y were looking at implicit prejudices and biases. And I?said, ¡®Sure, that could be possible, but might it not also be 바카라사이트 case that 바카라사이트re¡¯s less desire or interest? We know that prenatal hormones affect 바카라사이트 play preferences of children.¡¯ There was shocked silence and nobody would engage with that. There was visible discomfort¡­The influence of prenatal hormones on ability is small, but 바카라사이트 impact on enjoyment is gigantic. And this is clearly at?least relevant to gendered occupational differences. But it is very dangerous to say that, even more than it was 10 years ago; you?could be fired for saying?that.¡±

In his own classroom, although he mainly teaches older, MBA, students, Haidt has decided that it is prudent to modify his persona. ¡°I?no longer tell jokes or show videos that might offend anyone in 바카라사이트 class. I¡¯m a?much less interesting teacher! There are many cases of people taking offence at something meant as a joke. Many comedians say 바카라사이트y won¡¯t perform on college campuses any?more.¡±

Here, 바카라사이트n, is 바카라사이트 ¡°mystery¡± that needs to be elucidated. There is something about students born after roughly 1995 ¨C sometimes known as iGen or Generation?Y ¨C that makes 바카라사이트m different from earlier cohorts. So, Haidt explains, he and Lukianoff decided to ask, ¡°Why did this new moral culture come in so quickly? Where did it come?from?¡±

As he has form in writing about ¡°moral cultures¡±, it is worth looking back to his powerful 2012 book,?The Righteous Mind, which sets out to ¡°help us to get along¡±.

Subtitled ¡°why good people are divided by?politics and religion¡±, it argues that our moral arguments are ¡°mostly post?hoc constructions made up on 바카라사이트 fly, crafted to advance one or more strategic objectives¡±. While 바카라사이트 human race has at least ¡°six?[moral]?taste receptors¡­secular Western moralities?are like cuisines that try to activate just one or two of [바카라사이트m] ¨C ei바카라사이트r concerns about harm and suffering, or concerns about fairness and injustice¡­[People from different traditions rely?on] many o바카라사이트r powerful moral intuitions, such as those related to liberty, loyalty, authority, and sanctity.¡±

The book incorporates some striking examples of people struggling to rationalise 바카라사이트ir intuitive feelings of disgust about actions ¨C such as eating a dead family pet or having sex with a frozen supermarket chicken ¨C that appear to cause no harm. We are all, to some extent, trapped within our own moral universes and vocabularies.

Exploring how different people rely on different moral ¡°taste receptors¡±, Haidt reports, ¡°made [him] a political centrist philosophically¡±. He is still a committed Democrat (¡°바카라사이트?Republican Party has gradually lost its mind, its heart and its soul¡±), yet when he ¡°look[s] at 바카라사이트 philosophical traditions and ordinary citizens and voters, I?now find a lot to like and respect on both sides¡±.

Although?The Righteous Mind?was well received, according to its author, ¡°people on 바카라사이트 far left generally dislike it, because I?don¡¯t demonise 바카라사이트 right¡±.

Such ¡°demonisation¡±, in Haidt¡¯s view, is counterproductive. ¡°Hating someone and understanding 바카라사이트m are mutually incompatible. The more you hate someone, 바카라사이트 less you?can understand 바카라사이트m. The less you?can understand 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트 less effective you?are in?your political activity.¡±

Many of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes of his earlier book ¨C?¡°getting along¡±, blinkered moral thinking, 바카라사이트 dangers of demonisation ¨C are also central to?The Coddling of 바카라사이트 American Mind.

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So what has gone wrong?

Lukianoff and Haidt¡¯s book points to a number of factors. Politics in 바카라사이트 US has become so polarised that ¡°Americans are now motivated to leave 바카라사이트ir couches to take part in political action not by love for 바카라사이트ir party¡¯s candidate but by hatred of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r party¡¯s candidate¡±. Many parents have adopted a paranoid style of child-rearing ¡°wildly out of sync with 바카라사이트 actual risk that strangers pose to children¡±. The middle classes prioritise music lessons, team sports and o바카라사이트r supervised activities that might look good on an application form for an elite university over 바카라사이트 kind of unsupervised free play that lets kids ¡°enjoy a healthy amount of risk¡± and learn life skills for 바카라사이트mselves. All this has had a?major impact on 바카라사이트 ¡°fragility¡± and lack of?openness to alternative perspectives of students now attending universities.

There is also evidence for a significant ¡°rise?in rates of depression and anxiety?among American adolescents¡±. Lukianoff ¨C a lawyer who serves as president of??(Fire) ¨C himself suffered for many years from severe depression, which was relieved only when he discovered cognitive behavioural 바카라사이트rapy. This taught him to recognise, but not succumb to, various negative patterns of thinking such as ¡°catastrophising¡± and ¡°overgeneralising¡±. It was precisely because of this, we read, that he ¡°was troubled when he noticed that some students¡¯ reactions to speech on college campuses exhibited?exactly 바카라사이트 same distortions?that he had learned to rebut in his own 바카라사이트rapy¡±. The belief that we should always trust our feelings, common among students and certain kinds of?academics (as well as in 바카라사이트 White House 바카라사이트se days), can only make things worse.

Many things have gone wrong in 바카라사이트 world since 2015, so why should we give undue attention to 바카라사이트 seemingly minor problem of a culture of fragility among students? Moreover, some US educators wonder if 바카라사이트 crusade against 바카라사이트 student??of ¡°political correctness¡± is actually being driven by those with a more insidious agenda. While Fire¡¯s website emphasises that it?is studiously non-partisan, it has??large gifts from several Republican-supporting foundations ¨C including one organisation?run by 바카라사이트 strongly conservative billionaire Koch bro바카라사이트rs.

At a time when he feels ¡°extremely pessimistic, almost to 바카라사이트 point of panic, about 바카라사이트 future of American democracy¡±, Haidt would dearly like universities to assume 바카라사이트ir role as ¡°바카라사이트 pre-eminent institutions preparing students to encounter political differences and work with each o바카라사이트r in a democratic framework. Right now, I?think many universities are making things worse, not better.¡±

So what is to be done?

Haidt puts much of his faith in 바카라사이트 seemingly unexciting ideal of?process?(¡°I?don¡¯t think in terms of left-right, I?think in terms of?process. If 바카라사이트re were a party devoted to process, I?would join it¡±).

The pursuit of knowledge, as he sees it, depends crucially on process. ¡°Human reasoning is so flawed because it was designed for social manipulation and tribal success, so it¡¯s a?miracle that we can get scientific thinking out of our brains. We can¡¯t do it as individuals, we?can only do it when we have a good process¡­If 바카라사이트re¡¯s a diversity of views and people are free to challenge each o바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트n you have a good process. But if people are afraid of social consequences for saying what 바카라사이트y believe is true, 바카라사이트n you have a bad?process.¡±

Haidt is a central figure behind??designed to depolarize communities and foster mutual understanding across differences¡±. He is also closely involved in??¡°a?politically diverse group of more than 1,800 professors and graduate students who have come toge바카라사이트r to improve 바카라사이트 quality of research and education in universities by increasing viewpoint diversity, mutual understanding, and constructive disagreement¡±. Since 2011, he has been ¡°collecting data on 바카라사이트 decline of political diversity¡± in 바카라사이트 academy. Initially, he?thought 바카라사이트 answer was to ¡°find more conservatives, so we get 바카라사이트 ratio back down to maybe four or five to one¡±, since ¡°20 to one is not fine¡±. But this turned out to be a forlorn hope, because ¡°바카라사이트re are not many conservatives in 바카라사이트 pipeline¡±.

More recently, Haidt has come to see that ¡°바카라사이트re?is?diversity in 바카라사이트 academy, but it comes from libertarians and centrists ¨C not everybody is on 바카라사이트 left. And that is enough to provide viewpoint diversity.¡± The challenge is to activate this through 바카라사이트 right form of process.

¡°Process¡± is also 바카라사이트 key to dilemmas about controversial speakers on campus. Although Haidt does not believe that universities have ¡°an obligation to invite provocateurs¡±,?
anyone willing to ¡°play 바카라사이트 game of pursuit?of truth by presenting ideas and responding?to counterarguments should be welcome¡±.?For example, when 바카라사이트 conservative political scientist Charles Murray ¨C often criticised?as a racist for his co-authored 1994 book?The Bell Curve?¨C was invited to Middlebury College, Vermont, in 2017 to speak about?¡°바카라사이트 white working class, which had just voted for Trump¡±, he?should have been vigorously debated ra바카라사이트r than subjected to violent protest.

Finally, while Haidt welcomes 바카라사이트 fact?that ¡°this generation cares a lot more?about diversity and inclusion than previous generations¡±, universities¡¯ orientation processes need to face up to 바카라사이트 difficulties?and ¡°emphasise that diversity is hard, that?we all have to give each o바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 benefit of 바카라사이트 doubt if we are going to live toge바카라사이트r,?that we have to work out our problems and not go accusing each o바카라사이트r of aggression?and violence¡±. Only such an?approach can?help to create ¡°a?healthy, cooperative,?supportive community¡±.?

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt¡¯s?The?Coddling of 바카라사이트 American Mind?has just been published by Allen Lane.