Angie Zhang - Week 7

Angie Zhang

Section A01

Week 7

One thing the article “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt mentions that I thought was interesting is the issue of trigger warnings and the effects of microaggression, which is a statement or action regarded as an instance of indirect or subtle discrimination against members of marginalized or minority groups. Many students on campuses often unintentionally use offensive language when communicating with others, such as jokingly using racial slurs or other inappropriate language when talking to their friends. However, what they fail to realize is that this can be a trigger for others who have had unpleasant experiences with those subjects, such as discrimination. This would result in those bystanders feeling victimized and extremely uncomfortable due to being reminded of unpleasant memories of their prior experiences. I feel as though this article was very eye opening as it sheds light to an issue that many people may not be aware of. To be honest, I had never really thought about how my insensitivity about the way I act or the things I say, regardless if it was unintentional or meant to be a joke, can affect other students so severely. Therefore, this article made me realize that it is extremely important for people to be cautious about what they should and should not do or say in specific settings because it can act as a trigger for other students who are more sensitive to that particular subject. This article also claims that one way of fighting this issue is not by shielding students from specific ideas and words that might cause them emotional distress. Instead, this article argues that students should be exposed to such views. Lukianoff and Haidt offers several solutions to this issue, such as abandoning restrictive speech codes and talking more openly about such values. However, I feel as though this would be difficult and tedious as many students are nevertheless affected by this due to their past trauma, which leads to my question...

Question:

Is there a better alternative to the solution suggested in the article? How can campuses enforce verbal harassment without it clashing with freedom of speech? (That is, how do campuses determine when such conducts crosses the line to create a rather hostile environment that allow them to take disciplinary action?)

References:

Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2015). “The Coddling of the Asian American Mind.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company. Retrieved November 3, 2017.

Dozier, C. (2015). [Digital Image]. Retrieved November 3, 2017, from http://www.campusanswers.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage355297-campus-microaggressions.jpg