Why do so many of our young people instantly break down in tears the moment anything seriously offends them? Have we raised an entire generation that has had everything handed to them and that is so spineless that it is completely incapable of dealing with the harsh realities of the modern world? The answer is yes.
At colleges and universities all over America, students are now demanding “safe spaces” where anything and everything that could possibly make them feel uncomfortable is banned. “Trigger warnings” are being placed on books, even classics, because they might cause some students to feel unsafe because they may be reminded of a past trauma.
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In our current society, young people have come to expect that they should be automatically shielded from anything that could remotely be considered harmful or offensive, and as a result we now have an entire generation that is completely lacking in toughness. That may be fine as long as you can depend on your mom and dad, but how in the world are these young men and women going to handle the difficult challenges that come with living in the real world?
Dubbed “Generation Snowflake,” the current group of youngsters we are dealing with “believe it’s their right to be protected from anything they might find unpalatable.”
Recently, during a talk about rape, I was astounded by what I saw. Some girls were sobbing and hugging each other, while others shrieked. The majority appeared at the very least shell-shocked. It was distress on a scale appropriate for some horrible disaster. Thankfully, however, it wasn’t a war zone or the scene of a pile-up – but rather in a school auditorium.
Political correctness is often taken to ridiculous extremes in attempt to keep people from being exposed to anything that could remotely be considered “offensive.” For example, the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom has outlawed sombreros in a Mexican restaurant and the National Union of Students has banned clapping as “as it might trigger trauma.”
Could you imagine banning clapping?
But this is actually happening. Anything that might make someone feel the least bit uncomfortable is now being labeled as a “micro-aggression,” and at schools all over America “safe spaces” are being labelled as a place where young people can avoid anyone or anything that may make them feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or challenged. At Brown University, the New York Times reported that students set up a “safe space” that offered calming music, cookies, Play-Doh and a video of frolicking puppies to help students cope with a discussion on how colleges should handle sexual assault.
Are you kidding me?
The real world is tough, and we need to teach our kids to be tough. Trying to recreate a kindergarten environment for men and women that are supposed to be adults is not going to help anyone.
Since this new generation has been labelled the “Snowflake Generation” I believe they deserve a whole set of words to go along with them. Here’s a verb and a noun: “wussifying” is the act of turning someone into a “wussy.”
If our young people need cookies, Play-Doh and videos of puppies to deal with the challenges in their lives right now, what in the world are they going to do when the real world happens? The real world can be exceedingly cold and cruel, and young people need to be able to handle whatever life will throw at them. Unfortunately, our society has raised a bunch of boys and girls that don’t know how to become real men and women.
