The Coddling of the American Mind

[Noodles]

If my temporary live-in helper is any indication, they don't. He's a student attending a local community college, and helping me with physical work around my 3 acre property in return for food and a place to sleep. 35 years old, and not yet 2 years through college. Spends most of his off-time staring at a computer screen. Doesn't really know how to cook or other practical stuff. He's not stupid, we can talk tech stuff just fine, but not motivated. Originally he was going to get a part-time job to help pay for school. Didn't even make it to work the first day. Instead, went shopping and bought a little laptop. I've had to lend him clothes because he didn't have anything suitable for winter. He's leaving in 9 days to head back to his parent's place.

This sort of thing makes me question a lot of the "I can't get a job" types. I mean yeah, the economy is rough, but it's like, guess what, you gotta put at least the minimum effort into this. And you aren't going to start out being some rockstar in a corner office making 6 figures, you get to start in the shitty repetitive job everyone else starts in. Even with your college degree.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Infinite number of monkeys rule: Absurdity isn't just likely, it's guaranteed anytime you deal with populations of a certain size or larger.

And that goes for the people processing complaints as well as those making complaints.

One never need look far to find an anecdote of absurdity proving that 'the system is flawed' because anytime people are involved... it simply is, by transitive properties, absurd.

Same thing goes for system security, there's no such thing as 'chance'. Some ratio of the population of users WILL always try to exploit a security system. Their success is certain, the only variable is time.

Let them see and try and break this one.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    printf("Hello World");

    return 0;
}

Of course I'm just being silly. After maybe a 1000 lines and surely 10000 there's liable to be a hole somewhere.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

You like bringing this video up as an example of people being special snowflakes. I wonder, what do you know about it's provenance? Do you know why Halloween has upset a crowd of mostly black students at Yale?

The man under attack is Professor Nicholas Christakis, his wife, Professor Erika Christakis was part of the Yale faculty too. As a pair, they acted as advisors/mentors to one of the undergraduate colleges. A few days earlier, and in response to concerns raised by college multi-racial groups, the university Deans sent out advice to Yale students to avoid racially insensitive costumes like turbans, Native American headdresses and blackface. Some of the students under the Christakises didn't like this advice and brought their concerns to Erika. In response to these students, she then sent an email to the students of the college basically saying if you want to wear blackface go ahead, and if you don't like seeing blackface, look away. In the email, she explicitly noted her husband agreed with this stance.

I don't know about you, but I don't think a video of black students getting upset at a professor who's defending other students right to wear blackface, is a particularly good example of "special snowflakisim" gone mad.

What really pisses me off about that video is the description:

"Students at Yale bully sociology Professor Nicholas Christakis because his wife had the audacity to suggest, in an email, that students could maybe decide what Halloween costumes to wear by themselves."

Anyone with a brain can immediately see how over simplified that is. Of course the kids look absurd ripped out of context, but people will just take that video description at face value.

 

[danielravennest]

This sort of thing makes me question a lot of the "I can't get a job" types. I mean yeah, the economy is rough, but it's like, guess what, you gotta put at least the minimum effort into this. And you aren't going to start out being some rockstar in a corner office making 6 figures, you get to start in the shitty repetitive job everyone else starts in. Even with your college degree.

The unemployment rate is 3.7%, so "can't get a job" doesn't apply right now. The first company the placement service sent him to offered him a job. Admittedly, it's a shit job (warehouse work), but he's done that kind of work before.

 

[Noodles]

The unemployment rate is 3.7%, so "can't get a job" doesn't apply right now. The first company the placement service sent him to offered him a job. Admittedly, it's a shit job (warehouse work), but he's done that kind of work before.

It's getting into an entirely different topic but I guestion the 3.7% number a lot from people dropping out of the job market and people who are actually underemployed.

Not saying it's a wrong number, just that I wonder how actually valid it is from the people who provide it.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

This sort of thing makes me question a lot of the "I can't get a job" types. I mean yeah, the economy is rough, but it's like, guess what, you gotta put at least the minimum effort into this. And you aren't going to start out being some rockstar in a corner office making 6 figures, you get to start in the shitty repetitive job everyone else starts in. Even with your college degree.

It doesn't really count as a 'job' if the pay is so little that they're not able to make the interest payments on their astronomical college debt.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Casey Pelous]

And, by cracky, WE WERE GRATEFUL!

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

By Jove, an explanation for Trump.

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

By Jove, an explanation for Trump.

I would pay like lower three digit money to see that waddling oaf try to ride a bicycle without training wheels.

PS: he haaaates bicycles...

 

[Kara Spengler]

It seems like the type who cry 'snowflake!' the most are the ones who need trigger warnings on everything. One person on my FB feed reposted joking about all the xmass songs that should be no-nos for one reason or another (like 'I saw mommy kissing santa claus' being softcore porn). I joined in on the fun by joking that I object to ALL songs that mention christmas unless they give equal time to all december holidays. I immediately got someone screaming I can listen to them in my own house if I want to. Maybe it was just that I was joking about something tied to a majority religion but I found their reaction quite entertaining when my reply was in the spirit of the thread.

 

[danielravennest]

It's getting into an entirely different topic but I question the 3.7% number a lot from people dropping out of the job market and people who are actually underemployed.

Not saying it's a wrong number, just that I wonder how actually valid it is from the people who provide it.

The 3.7% number is calculated from the difference between the "participation rate" and the "employment population ratio". The participation rate is the percentage of a population that want to work, and the other number is the percentage who actually are employed. The chart below is for the "prime working years (25-54) population", but the national unemployment rate is based on the total population over 18. The Department of Labor is who calculates this, and you can dig into how they calculate it if you are really interested.

Another way to look at the state of the job market is separations (quits + discharges) vs hires vs available job openings. Openings are at record high levels. Hires minus separations equals the monthy change in employment.

 

[Ayesha]

I’ve encountered these kinds of people online quite a bit, and a few in person but I try to stay clear as soon as I figure out they're snowflakes of the fast-melting variety. I am liberal, but I don’t get offended about everything and I feel these types create infighting and distract from the real and serious issues we are facing in the United States. Here are a few examples of the absurd things I’ve either dealt with or seen in the communities I frequent:

• You're not allowed to equate any other discrimination to racism anymore, and if you use something like a Martin Luther King Jr. quote to support LGBTQ equality you'll be accused of either cultural appropriation or "invalidating" black people.
• Speaking of which, almost everything is cultural appropriation now. I completely understand that white people should not do things like conduct Native religious ceremonies, but now you can get accused of appropriation for even having certain kinds of braids, wearing particular (non-religious) clothes, doing yoga etc.
• You're now supposed to use they/them pronouns for ANYONE you don't know on the off chance their gender identity doesn't match their name and/or how they present.
• Lesbians who aren't interested in dating a pre/non-op trans woman because they're not attracted to penises are attacked as transphobic, and accused of being TERFs. Don't know what a TERF is? I had to look it up too. TERFs are gross and definitely a problem, but sexual attraction and who a person thinks deserves equal civil rights are NOT the same thing. I mean, I support the rights of elderly Americans, but I'm not hanging out at the local senior center looking for dates!
• People verbally attacking others but then refusing to explain what they think the person did wrong because "It's not my job to educate you."
• Related to the above, 'flakes debating people and then expecting some kind of apology and/or compensation for their "emotional labor." Emotional labor DOES exist, but it's the energy and emotions a person HAS to expend to live their everyday life and have their rights respected, not a CHOICE to argue with some rando on the internet.
• Example: a person on Twitter becomes enraged after someone suggested a solution to a problem that she doesn’t think would work. Exact quote: “You just had a member of a marginalized group explain something you could have googled please pay the $25 fine.”
• This same individual, who is extremely toxic in general, manages to often start good Twitter threads. However, she’s nasty to anyone who replies to them with any level of disagreement or starts a conversation in the replies she perceives as off topic. She also puts PayPal links in every thread, basically she thinks you should send her money because she posts things on Twitter.
• A group where you have to post content warnings or content notes, you cannot say "trigger warning" because the word trigger could be triggering. Screenshot attached because otherwise it's too crazy to be believed. Oops, you can't say crazy anymore either.
• That same group required trigger... excuse me content warnings for any mention of food, colonialism, pregnancy, and various other non-graphic topics.
• I once expressed support for a marginalized group I'm not part of and was told I was being self-congratulatory. When I said that wasn't true, I was told to "stop gaslighting" ...thereby being gaslit by a false accusation of gaslighting. If that's not snowflake hell, I don't know what is. On a related note, as someone who survived actual gaslighting in an abusive relationship, the misuse of this term makes me so angry. A person on the Internet disagreeing with you and telling you that you’re wrong is not gaslighting you.

I could go on... but bottom line yes these people are real and they make me fear for the future of humanity.

 

[Tranquility]

I'm fine with colleges and other institutions trying to address the discomfort microagressions cause. I am not fine with their solution of trying to prevent any students from even experiencing the discomfort of microagressions. Sounds like an abstinence only approach. They (the students) will eventually have to deal with microagressions, and much worse, in the real world. They need to learn how to cope with uncomfortable or worse situations; not how to ignore that those situations exist.

It's like those germophobes who are always sick because they don't allow their bodies to build a strong immunity to the germs around them (though, maybe that is just confirmation bias on my part, since I know some germophobes).

 

[Lianne Marten]

All groups have assholes in them.

 

[Kalel]

I'm fine with colleges and other institutions trying to address the discomfort microagressions cause. I am not fine with their solution of trying to prevent any students from even experiencing the discomfort of microagressions. Sounds like an abstinence only approach. They (the students) will eventually have to deal with microagressions, and much worse, in the real world. They need to learn how to cope with uncomfortable or worse situations; not how to ignore that those situations exist.

It's like those germophobes who are always sick because they don't allow their bodies to build a strong immunity to the germs around them (though, maybe that is just confirmation bias on my part, since I know some germophobes).

every person has a different level of life experience..going to college is supposed to expose you to new things, new people, and prepare you for the real world outside of the bubble everyone has lived in for so long by evening things out. But there was a flaw

not everyone fully learns how to cope and sometimes these people end up in positions of power. not mentioning any names but they end up influencing these decisions like abstinence and making things even worse. it'a cycle thats been happening for ages.. Technology has made the gap even bigger and more confusing.

 

[Kara Spengler]

One former friend on FB posted that people should not shame non-voters. Yes, you read that right. I posted that as long as the person had a reason (logistical, disagreement with the system, disenfranchisement, whatever) I had no issue with them not voting but if they could not even think of a reason I would not feel bad about looking down on them for not voting. Yes, I immediately got attacked in the thread. A couple of the people were using their being native americans as their credentials. I pointed out the litany of names they were calling me would be real funny to my friend at Pine Ridge Reservation and joked they did not use a certain word (a Lakota derogatory term for white people). Add my using her as a token to the list (note that I did not even bring native americans up, they did and tried to use it as their ace in the hole). I asked the OP if anyone had actually READ my statement (which agreed with her statement), she just said yes and did not elaborate. Various blocks and defriending went on. I looked in on the thread later and they were congratulating each other.

 

[Pamela]

One former friend on FB posted that people should not shame non-voters. Yes, you read that right. I posted that as long as the person had a reason (logistical, disagreement with the system, disenfranchisement, whatever) I had no issue with them not voting but if they could not even think of a reason I would not feel bad about looking down on them for not voting. Yes, I immediately got attacked in the thread. A couple of the people were using their being native americans as their credentials. I pointed out the litany of names they were calling me would be real funny to my friend at Pine Ridge Reservation and joked they did not use a certain word (a Lakota derogatory term for white people). Add my using her as a token to the list (note that I did not even bring native americans up, they did and tried to use it as their ace in the hole). I asked the OP if anyone had actually READ my statement (which agreed with her statement), she just said yes and did not elaborate. Various blocks and defriending went on. I looked in on the thread later and they were congratulating each other.

Shaming has a bad rap, but it has been an effective tool in helping people feel ashamed for doing or saying shameful things. Some people have no shame, tho.

ETA Just saw this:

 

[Jopsy Pendragon]

They need to learn how to cope with uncomfortable or worse situations; not how to ignore that those situations exist..

An environment where people must learn to cope with micro aggressions is also a training ground for those making them. It's not the kind of "higher education" that our institutions should be fostering.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

every person has a different level of life experience..going to college is supposed to expose you to new things, new people, and prepare you for the real world outside of the bubble everyone has lived in for so long by evening things out.

Maybe that's part of the problem, though. People expect college to provide some kind of crash-raising that it's assumed students' own parents forgot or neglected or were for some reason unable to provide.

But it sounds to me like it's never, ever been any good at doing that. Maybe we should just expect it to teach the subject matter of the classes the students are encumbering themselves with multiple decades' worth of debt to take.