Picture this: you're taking a college level sociology class, and you're a minority in the classroom.
You feel shut out of the conversation. You feel over analyzed and judged. You know your insight isn't welcome at the table, and what you say or do might just reinforce everyone's preconceived notion of you. You're afraid you might receive an unfair letter grade just based on being different.
That's right. You're a conservative.
Nevermind that you have never felt this way before in your entire life besides this two-and-half-hour class that is a general requirement to graduate, which you are taking in person only because all your conservative friends filled the spots for the online course. You understand what it's like to be ostracized for who you are.
And this is who I am. I'm not one of those stereotypical bible-thumping, pray-the-gay-away, open-carry-on-college-campuses, playing-the-Beatles-white-album-backwards-to-check-for-Satan's-bidding conservatives (although those are fine stances to have). I'm the Millennial conservative, the one who thinks it's totally cool for homosexuals to exist as long as zero depictions of anything besides hetero-normative expression crosses my path.
Not only am I outspokenly pro-life (and quietly sexually active), but also absolutely silent on issues of contraceptives and general healthcare being accessible by people regardless of their economic status. Poor people should just stay abstinent regardless of their religion if they can't afford the sex precautions I take, am I right?
Despite my class reviewing the materials and studies that show women get paid less than men in the exact same occupancy and position, I'll still feel, in my heart of hearts, that it's because of the choices women make.
Such as getting an arts degree instead of a STEM degree.
I'll know that it's because women have to take a few weeks off because they refuse to not get pregnant that explains the 20% difference in pay. And don't get me started on all the reasons why black women make 65 cents for every dollar a white man makes! Maybe they should try harder to get into colleges. By the way, I'm anti-Affirmative Action.
And yet, every time I try to raise these concerns in class, I feel the mood shift. Suddenly, two or more people are challenging my view with the exact research we are discussing. Or worse, by referencing political persecution and economic suppression, topics that I have avoided since they weren't written on by a white man in the 1970s or Ben Shapiro.
My least favorite time is when economics are brought up in these liberal riddled classes. I don't even feel comfortable wearing my 'SOCIALISM SUCKS' shirt those days. The free market allows all people, regardless of background or identity, to make something of themselves. I don't see the relevance of privatized health care or higher education when we talk about income inequality. They keep saying the top 0.01% in America has the same amount of wealth as the bottom 90%, but clearly, they don't understand trickle-down economics. By the way, what does 'intergenerational poverty' mean?
Despite universities touting themselves as places where knowledge can be accessed and challenging ideas can be discussed, it's clear they are trying to alienate me. It's no coincidence so many people come out with totally different ideologies and personalities than the ones they came in with.
That is why I joined Turning Point USA, because I know there has to be a change here. This concept of 'safe spaces,' where members of the LGBTQ community, women, and people of color are allowed to discuss feelings and ideas that easily could have gotten them killed in my father's youth is a method of suppressing free speech.
We organize to support capitalism and free speech, by using funds donated by billionaire CEOs to put students into student government positions with the intent to gut funding to student organizations and vet student group agendas. We push for the privatization of resources for the university and locking schools into contracts with private corporations.
We rally to bring Milo Yiannopoulios to the university so he can shout slurs at our transgender students and explain why women shouldn't hold public office. We also dress up in diapers and baby bottles to protest so-called 'safe spaces.' What do you mean by 'inclusive' when you aren't okay with us doing this?
Slowly, I know that by organizing, I can change the culture that persists on campus to make it more accepting for people like me. We already have an online watch list of professors who are anti-American and pedaling leftist propaganda in classrooms. I can feel the winds of change coming!
Note from the author: this is not an attack on people who have not been exposed to information that contradict their beliefs. Many people do not have friends with diverse experiences, or resources in their lives that discuss the harm policies have caused. Ideologies usually are formed based on your upbringing, family, and the degree of censorship your education consisted of, as well as education itself. Also, a lot of the ideas about income inequality, gender revolution, and racial justice do not come from the demographic who can afford college -- they come from marginalized people who theorize and organize. Higher education does not equal knowledge, but it does help access it here in America. If you are fortunate enough to attend college, please use it as an opportunity to learn about issues that don't affect you, or read about why your experience is the way it is!
