Perhaps the most preposterous thing about the “protective” speech codes that these people insist upon is the implicit assumption that because an individual is part of a “historically marginalized” group, he is necessarily emotionally and intellectually so fragile that any disagreeable words might send him into abject depression, and on the other hand, that because another individual is linked to a non-marginalized group, he must be the Rock of Gibraltar, able to take any and all (no doubt, much deserved!) criticism.
Now that’s absolute nonsense. An individual’s emotional state has nothing to do with whether his ancestors were “marginalized” or not.
The trouble with speech codes is that they’re a quixotic attempt at shielding certain people from “offensive” words. Does anyone think that these “historically marginalized” individuals will live in a coccoon after graduation? Or for that matter, while on campus? The world is full of comments, pictures, ideas that some people like and others find abhorrent. If, as the university always says, it’s in the business of preparing people for life, shouldn’t it stop pretending to be a protective nanny for some student groups and tell them to grow up?
