Thursday, October 22, 2015

Profiles in tolerance

Williams College: "Hey, we're going to have a lecture series called 'Uncomfortable Learning' to expose students to a wider range of viewpoints."

Students: "That makes us uncomfortable."

Williams College: "Oh, nevermind then."

5 comments:

Profiles in Porridge said...

It’s always good to Google these things. Williams College had nothing to do with this stupidity. Three people invited Suzanne Venker, two of those three people rescinded that invitation. Their unofficial student group “Uncomfortable Learning,” which has existed for less than a year, set up the event. But when their Facebook pages began to fill with criticism, they cancelled it at the last minute by a vote of 2-1. The two cowards are the ones who have injected irony into their group’s name, not the college.

A few months ago, one of the group’s members said, “One cannot learn and grow without being challenged.” Or in their case, also with being challenged.

Melting Snowflakes said...

Wow, I thought this story had to do with the oppressive and suffocating descent of college campuses into gulags of political correctness and intolerance.

But it turns out it's only about "two cowards" and their fickleness.

Williams College, the snowflakes who shelter there, and the pressure and intimidation that descends on anyone there in whom dissent is detected, were completely uninvolved (and shall therefore remain unexamined).

Snow Job said...

The group's budget is entirely funded by some of the same suffocated snowflakes who have sheltered there. Clearly the campus needs to roll up its sleeves and suffocate harder.

The group took their "Uncomfortable Learning" name directly from a late Williams professor who set up a program and spent decades flying his students around the world to arduous and thorny environments, such as slums in India. Unlike those students, these three students couldn’t hack it in their Berkshires dorm rooms for a couple of days of Facebook posts. One of the two dis-inviters has already quit the group.

The shrunken group has since rescinded its rescission, and asked Suzanne Venker to appear after all. Weather reports in the area indicate a passing sunshower of oppressive pressure and intimidation.

In the same week that anti-feminist Venker was privately uninvited, the gulag of political correctness and intolerance known as Williams College hosted a Planned Parenthood protest -- a protest against Planned Parenthood.

Professor Uncomfortable said...

What's that? "Uncomfortable Learning" turns out to have alumni funding? Well! Apparently this short-duration "unofficial group" of three people is moving up in the world, now that your story has to change.

So by your testimony, there's hope that Williams College and perhaps the other colleges and universities across the nation are not actually leftist gulags where the expression of opposing viewpoints is routinely stifled, as the endless stream of stories about such situations would lead us to believe.

No, the countless rescinded invitations to conservative speakers may instead be explained by the presence throughout our higher educational institutions, of a large number of people who for whatever reason can't "hack it" when they receive a few unspecified, enthusiastic (though un-ironic) Facebook comments. This leaves me hopeful for the future.

The anti-feminist Venker is re-invited? That just shows you the two cowards will respond to whatever the strongest criticism is in the moment. Please keep us posted on how her visit goes.

I was unable to find any reference to the Williams-sponsored Planned Parenthood protest, which I was eager to read about and be challenged by. But I'm afraid my Google skills were not up to the job of finding a story that significant.

Undefeated! said...

"Tom Brady beat up his wife last week."
"No, he didn't."
"Maybe he didn't, but I'm still right because other football players have beaten up their wives."