Freedom of Expression: The Spam Elite
Published in Die Zeit
(Germany) on 20 November 2015
by Josef Joffe (link to original)
(Germany) on 20 November 2015
by Josef Joffe (link to original)
Translated from
by Thomas Johnson.
Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The U.S. student revolts of 2015: "Goodthink" instead of dissent and freedom of expression.
What does George Orwell have to do with Halloween? We have Orwell's "1984" to thank for "goodthink" and "newspeak." Totalitarian-controlled speech no longer permitted concepts or ideas that expressed "crimethink": power over men by dominating their way of thinking.
The Intercultural Affairs Committee at Yale University issued a decree for proper attire just in time for Halloween: no Indian headdresses, sombreros or blackface. These kinds of "culturally insensitive" outfits could offend minorities. A professor subsequently wrote an email. Respect and sensitivity are important, but "is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious … a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?”
Since then, indignation has raged. The professor had to leave Yale, and her husband who defended freedom of expression had to leave with her. One outraged student wrote in The Yale Herald: "He doesn’t get it. And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain." A nationwide opinion poll revealed that more than half of the students desired a speech code: what one is allowed to say (or wear), and what one wasn’t.
For 50 years, U.S. students have risked life and liberty to fight for the right to dissent; the revolt was called the "Free Speech Movement" at Berkeley. Twenty years earlier, McCarthyism wanted to enforce "goodthink" as a power of the state. Professors were ostracized and fired. Today, privileged students from Yale (and other elite colleges) don't want to see or hear what "pain" prepares them for.
Last year, another anti-liberal wave began to roll through college land: trigger warnings. Any books in a syllabus that could agitate or trigger "post-traumatic stress" were to include a "Warning: Harmful" label, just like cigarettes. The list of “triggers” would be endless: “Madame Bovary” — misogyny; “Othello” — racism, “Huckleberry Finn” — slavery and "nigger;"* the Bible — fratricide, crucifixion and war. "We have students with genuine psychological problems, which we need to respect," said one dean.**
The play, “The Vagina Monologues,” was discontinued because it discriminated against transgendered women. Former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, were uninvited as speakers because they promoted the war in Iraq and pay service to capitalism, respectively. The university is “The Resort for Psychotics where only Spam is served.”
This will be the end of the university, which thrives on continual debate. Peter Salovey, Yale's president, was braver than many colleagues. He countered young tyrants with "the freedom to speak and be heard, without fear of intimidation, threats, or harm, [...] not as a special exception for unpopular or controversial ideas but for them especially.”
Could a war on Halloween about "goodthink" and "badthink" break out in Germany? Everything that's cooked up in America, the gastronomic forefront of modernity, eventually gets served in Europe. Hopefully, it will cool off during its long journey across the Atlantic.
*Editor’s note: Watching America recognizes that the word “nigger” is an offensive racial slur. However, in this particular context, Watching America feels that using the unedited term is crucial to the article and to understanding the author’s point of view.
**Editor’s note: This quote, although accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
What does George Orwell have to do with Halloween? We have Orwell's "1984" to thank for "goodthink" and "newspeak." Totalitarian-controlled speech no longer permitted concepts or ideas that expressed "crimethink": power over men by dominating their way of thinking.
The Intercultural Affairs Committee at Yale University issued a decree for proper attire just in time for Halloween: no Indian headdresses, sombreros or blackface. These kinds of "culturally insensitive" outfits could offend minorities. A professor subsequently wrote an email. Respect and sensitivity are important, but "is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious … a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?”
Since then, indignation has raged. The professor had to leave Yale, and her husband who defended freedom of expression had to leave with her. One outraged student wrote in The Yale Herald: "He doesn’t get it. And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain." A nationwide opinion poll revealed that more than half of the students desired a speech code: what one is allowed to say (or wear), and what one wasn’t.
For 50 years, U.S. students have risked life and liberty to fight for the right to dissent; the revolt was called the "Free Speech Movement" at Berkeley. Twenty years earlier, McCarthyism wanted to enforce "goodthink" as a power of the state. Professors were ostracized and fired. Today, privileged students from Yale (and other elite colleges) don't want to see or hear what "pain" prepares them for.
Last year, another anti-liberal wave began to roll through college land: trigger warnings. Any books in a syllabus that could agitate or trigger "post-traumatic stress" were to include a "Warning: Harmful" label, just like cigarettes. The list of “triggers” would be endless: “Madame Bovary” — misogyny; “Othello” — racism, “Huckleberry Finn” — slavery and "nigger;"* the Bible — fratricide, crucifixion and war. "We have students with genuine psychological problems, which we need to respect," said one dean.**
The play, “The Vagina Monologues,” was discontinued because it discriminated against transgendered women. Former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, were uninvited as speakers because they promoted the war in Iraq and pay service to capitalism, respectively. The university is “The Resort for Psychotics where only Spam is served.”
This will be the end of the university, which thrives on continual debate. Peter Salovey, Yale's president, was braver than many colleagues. He countered young tyrants with "the freedom to speak and be heard, without fear of intimidation, threats, or harm, [...] not as a special exception for unpopular or controversial ideas but for them especially.”
Could a war on Halloween about "goodthink" and "badthink" break out in Germany? Everything that's cooked up in America, the gastronomic forefront of modernity, eventually gets served in Europe. Hopefully, it will cool off during its long journey across the Atlantic.
*Editor’s note: Watching America recognizes that the word “nigger” is an offensive racial slur. However, in this particular context, Watching America feels that using the unedited term is crucial to the article and to understanding the author’s point of view.
**Editor’s note: This quote, although accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
Next article![]( "The Bill of Fear")