Med school apologizes to students "triggered" by a test question

[Lawpy]

Another SDN example why Reason is garbage:

MSU med student expelled

When he arrived at Harry's house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the evening of April 23, 2016, Dev had good reasons to be a tad apprehensive. The occasion was Med Ball, a yearly prom for students enrolled in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU). Dev was one of those...

forums.studentdoctor.net

And we're heading to SPF territory anyways. I just think if we're talking about a problem, we should simply stick to good resources and not post crappy ultra reactionary articles from crappy sources like Reason.

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[Osminog]

Another SDN example why Reason is garbage:

MSU med student expelled

When he arrived at Harry's house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the evening of April 23, 2016, Dev had good reasons to be a tad apprehensive. The occasion was Med Ball, a yearly prom for students enrolled in the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University (MSU). Dev was one of those...

forums.studentdoctor.net

And we're heading to SPF territory anyways. I just think if we're talking about a problem, we should simply stick to good resources and not post crappy ultra reactionary articles from crappy sources like Reason.

Reason obviously has a libertarian bent, but it isn't any more biased than, say, MSNBC or Fox News. Give it a rest.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of the apology:

 

[Damson]

@Osminog your name reminded me of the pokemon Cosmog for some reason

 

[Lawpy]

Reason obviously has a libertarian bent, but it isn't any more biased than, say, MSNBC or Fox News. Give it a rest.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of the apology:

View attachment 310446

It's worse because those articles take an issue and add extreme reactionary opinions based on their biases. Then for some reason, they get listed on SDN to start an intense debate. If the topic came on somewhere like NYT or WSJ, that'll be much more worth reading about.

 

[bananafish94]

Generally, unless you've done something wrong, do not apologize. We're seeing PC culture render people meek and inclined to over-apologize to weak people. When people do that, it reduces their ability to project confidence and stay true to themselves. Like you said, the interaction described in the article was relatively benign. But the apology from the professor was unnecessary and sustains a custom of "feelings comes first, reason and logical thought process comes second", which is frustrating to watch.

In my experience the concern over "PC culture" and "triggering" people is vastly overblown and largely a boogeyman. I don't really think anybody in this story did anything wrong. Does the professor need to apologize? I don't know. But who's to say he's not being true to himself here? I don't know anything about him. At the end of the day, I do think it's important to have these discussions.

 

[catnip12]

 

[Osminog]

In my experience the concern over "PC culture" and "triggering" people is vastly overblown and largely a boogeyman. I don't really think anybody in this story did anything wrong. Does the professor need to apologize? I don't know. But who's to say he's not being true to himself here? I don't know anything about him. At the end of the day, I do think it's important to have these discussions.

What's wrong is that students went out of their way to complain to the professor about it, and that the professor groveled as if he did something wrong.

If you're taking a medical school exam and reading clinical vignettes depicting patients in distress, you can always come up with disturbing media stories that describe people in similar situations to those of the hypothetical patients. But if you choose to do that, that's not an issue with the exam or with the person who wrote the exam questions; it's an issue with your emotional fragility and unquenchable desire to find "triggers" everywhere you look.

 

[bananafish94]

The professor is wrong. I’m responsible for my behavior alone. I have no more responsibility for how other white people act than I do for anyone not white

the entire premise is bigotted

No, you're not responsible for how other white people act. You are responsible for your own actions, and inaction. Using myself as an example, I know I've let racist comments and jokes go unchallenged just to avoid stirring things up. When I was a teenager I can even think of absolutely horrible jokes I made to try and be "edgy" or funny. Is it my fault that a friend or family member makes a racist comment? Not really, but by just waving it away that sort of thing perpetuates a culture within your own circle, and then your circle starts overlapping with other circles. That's how I think about it, personally. I don't consider it to be bigoted at all.

 

[Neopolymath]

Funny you mention you Chick-fil-A.. I used to work there and I remeber at one point one (maybe around 2010?) of the Cathys or such made a remark that many considered to be homophobic. There was this huge move that swept through social media for an anti-chick-fil-a day of sorts. Everyone was supposed to get converge on their local chick-fil-a and circle in/out ordering free water and generally throwing a wrench in daily operation. Managment took this SUPER seriously and we all had to go to mandatory sensitivity training and such. The day actually came.... and I swear ever.single.LGBTQ person in a hundred mile radius showed. But they weren't there protesting, they were ordering chicken and tailgating in the srrounding parking lots and generally having a good time. Turns out (shocker) LGBTQ people chick-fil-a too. I finally asked one of them why they weren't protesting and he said something along the lines of "Kid, I don't give @$$*# what some old white dude on the news says. Y'all are always stupid nice and I just want my chicken biscuit." The owner ended up giving everyone time and a half cause that days was so busy.
It's only 10 years ago but I swear people now equate the possibility of offense with actual, personal offense. Like the test question OP mentioned, could 10000% be offensive in a different scenerio or verbage. But not in a very clinical test question. Racial injustice exists and there are a lot of situation in which people, myself and family included, have unknowingly said ignorant or "_"phobic things. But a single line drawn does not offense make.

I've always said that their homophobic chicken is soooooo good that it doesn't really matter and that was proven true with a similar anecdote in my town.

 

[bananafish94]

What's wrong is that students went out of their way to complain to the professor about it, and that the professor groveled as if he did something wrong.

If you're taking a medical school exam and reading clinical vignettes depicting patients in distress, you can always come up with disturbing media stories that describe people in similar situations to those of the hypothetical patients. But if you choose to do that, that's not an issue with the exam or with the person who wrote the exam questions; it's an issue with your emotional fragility and unquenchable desire to find "triggers" everywhere you look.

You're grasping at straws to fit your worldview. These students don't have an "unquenchable desire" to find triggers in everything. The phrase "I can't breathe" is universally associated with police brutality against Black people and the Black Lives Matter movement. I find absolutely nothing wrong with having a respectful discussion about a slightly more appropriate way to phrase the exam question. That's not a sign of emotional fragility, it's a sign of emotional intelligence.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Nobody thinks you're racist or bad because you're white, I don't understand why people adopt this ridiculous victim mentality.

Tell that to the white guy on our race panel whose entire purpose there was to tell us how white people are are inherently racist and should feel guilty about it.

 

[Neopolymath]

You're grasping at straws to fit your worldview. These students don't have an "unquenchable desire" to find triggers in everything. The phrase "I can't breathe" is universally associated with police brutality against Black people and the Black Lives Matter movement. I find absolutely nothing wrong with having a respectful discussion about a slightly more appropriate way to phrase the exam question. That's not a sign of emotional fragility, it's a sign of emotional intelligence.

Perhaps those people should mind their own business and let black students speak for themselves as individuals (and not a black monolith) instead of inserting themselves as the PC police. I can't speak for anyone but my close black friends but their sentiment is that they are tired of white people speaking for them, even liberals who might align with their beliefs.

This all goes back to mind one's own business and quit being offended for other people. It's straight up weird and unhealthy. Being terminally online is a genuine pathology at this point. People need to work on themselves and stay in their lane. This isn't someone commiting fraud or killing someone in front of you. If it bothers black students in the class, they will make it known. If they don't, clearly it wasn't a problem.

 

[Espressso]

Am I the only one who notices that the outrage over "PC" and "cancel culture" is almost more intense than the "fake outrage" they are raging about?

 

[Osminog]

You're grasping at straws to fit your worldview. These students don't have an "unquenchable desire" to find triggers in everything. The phrase "I can't breathe" is universally associated with police brutality against Black people and the Black Lives Matter movement. I find absolutely nothing wrong with having a respectful discussion about a slightly more appropriate way to phrase the exam question. That's not a sign of emotional fragility, it's a sign of emotional intelligence.

"I can't breathe" also happens to be something that patients commonly say when they're having respiratory problems. Talk to any critical care or emergency physician, and they will tell you that they regularly hear patients saying that they're struggling to breathe. It's simply not reasonable to connect the phrase "I can't breathe" in a clinical vignette involving a patient who's struggling to breathe with the slogan of a racial political organization.

Medicine is a field that requires some degree of mental toughness and resilience. Being "offended" by your own illogical connections between realistic clinical vignettes on a written exam and popular media stories, isn't at all reflective of the mindset of a future physician.

 

[Espressso]

Yes, virtue signaling and cancel culture is a thing. How to deal with it should be discussed and debated. Should you be outraged over it? No probably not. People are freaking out about other students freaking out about things that the first group doesn't think is a big deal. What a mess.

There probably was a better way for those students to approach admin about it, yeah. But the outrage over this topic is dumb IMO. If you're at that school and you didn't think that q was a big deal, and you see the email from the professor, okay... so what? You move on, it doesn't impact you at all.

 

[Neopolymath]

Am I the only one who notices that the outrage over "PC" and "cancel culture" is almost more intense than the "fake outrage" they are raging about?

Yeah on Fox news and your Uncle's facebook for sure

 

[Espressso]

"I can't breathe" also happens to be something that patients commonly say when they're having respiratory problems. Talk to any critical care or emergency physician, and they will tell you that they regularly hear patients saying that they're struggling to breathe. It's simply not reasonable to connect the phrase "I can't breathe" in a clinical vignette involving a patient who's struggling to breathe with the slogan of a racial political organization.

Medicine is a field that requires some degree of mental toughness and resilience. Being "offended" by your own illogical connections between realistic clinical vignettes on a written exam and popular media stories, isn't at all reflective of the mindset of a future physician.

And being outraged over the reactions of classmates/other students isn't all reflective of the mindset of a future physician either. It's all good. This isn't a big deal at all lol.

 

[Espressso]

Yeah on Fox news and your Uncle's facebook for sure

I think it's more than that, at this point. I mean look at this thread. People are really upset about students being upset about a test q. Outrage over the outrage. Come on, we all need to do better.

 

[operaman]

I like to fancy myself a reasonable dude. If I had written this test question and students complained about the phrase given the current climate, I would apologize too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, but in retrospect maybe I could word that one differently this year and return to the original next year.

I don’t find anything groveling in that nor do I give a rats arse about being PC. I’m just a reasonable human who can see why that particular phrase could be upsetting at the moment and I’d feel bad that I had inadvertently upset students I care about. I hope that’s what happened here.

 

[Neopolymath]

Yes, virtue signaling and cancel culture is a thing. How to deal with it should be discussed and debated. Should you be outraged over it? No probably not. People are freaking out about other students freaking out about things that the first group doesn't think is a big deal. What a mess.

There probably was a better way for those students to approach admin about it, yeah. But the outrage over this topic is dumb IMO. If you're at that school and you didn't think that q was a big deal, and you see the email from the professor, okay... so what? You move on, it doesn't impact you at all.

I more or less agree with you but think it's hilarious because the same logic could be applied to your comment haha.

 

[Espressso]

I more or less agree with you but think it's hilarious because the same logic could be applied to your comment haha.

Hahaha you got me. Touche.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hahaha you got me. Touche.

The outrage over the outrage over the outrage! When will it end? How many layers of outrage are there? Outrage-ception!

 

[bananafish94]

Tell that to the white guy on our race panel whose entire purpose there was to tell us how white people are are inherently racist and should feel guilty about it.

Without actually listening to what this person has to say, I can't help but feel that you're taking some creative liberties with their position.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Without actually listening to what this person has to say, I can't help but feel that you're taking some creative liberties with their position.

I wish I was. Without going into any details because I’m pretty sure they asked us not to share the stories, he basically shared a personal story of how he was racist (and it was really terrible) and how that is representative of all the white students in class. I was not even remotely the only one who felt that way.

 

[Espressso]

I more or less agree with you but think it's hilarious because the same logic could be applied to your comment haha.

The outrage over the outrage over the outrage! When will it end? How many layers of outrage are there? Outrage-ception!

In my defense, I was trying to make an observation that I've thought about with this topic over the past couple years. The best argument for the insanity of PC culture is Jonathon Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind, of which I tend to agree with his arguments and premise. But I just feel like the people who really get upset about PC culture are playing on the opposite end of the same extreme. If that makes sense.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

And being outraged over the reactions of classmates/other students isn't all reflective of the mindset of a future physician either. It's all good. This isn't a big deal at all lol.

You don't know many physicians, do you?

Being pissed off at other physicians is basically our national sport.

 

[bananafish94]

Perhaps those people should mind their own business and let black students speak for themselves as individuals (and not a black monolith) instead of inserting themselves as the PC police. I can't speak for anyone but my close black friends but their sentiment is that they are tired of white people speaking for them, even liberals who might align with their beliefs.

This all goes back to mind one's own business and quit being offended for other people. It's straight up weird and unhealthy. Being terminally online is a genuine pathology at this point. People need to work on themselves and stay in their lane. This isn't someone commiting fraud or killing someone in front of you. If it bothers black students in the class, they will make it known. If they don't, clearly it wasn't a problem.

I agree with parts of this and I can certainly see how it could be exasperating to have people speak on your behalf. However, I don't think it's fair to put the onus on the students it most directly affects to always take the lead. I think that these discussions are inherently messy and uncomfortable, but that's part of it. The "right" answer is hardly ever clear and it's very, very difficult to know which battles to fight, when to take the lead, and when to defer to somebody else but that doesn't mean we should stop.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

In my defense, I was trying to make an observation that I've thought about with this topic over the past couple years. The best argument for the insanity of PC culture is Jonathon Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind, of which I tend to agree with his arguments and premise. But I just feel like the people who really get upset about PC culture are playing on the opposite end of the same extreme. If that makes sense.

I’m generally of the mind that if fewer people white knighted, it would be a change for the good.

 

[BunnyMan17]

I wish I was. Without going into any details because I’m pretty sure they asked us not to share the stories, he basically shared a personal story of how he was racist (and it was really terrible) and how that is representative of all the white students in class. I was not even remotely the only one who felt that way.

Y'all aren't the only ones to raise an eyebrow at that panel, our year had some issues too.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Y'all aren't the only ones to raise an eyebrow at that panel, our year had some issues too.

I believe it if it was anything like ours. Only one member of the panel was reasonable and had something enlightening to say. In addition to the white guilt guy, we also had someone who stereotyped an entire patient population and then responded to a question about bias by claiming she had none.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I agree with parts of this and I can certainly see how it could be exasperating to have people speak on your behalf. However, I don't think it's fair to put the onus on the students it most directly affects to always take the lead. I think that these discussions are inherently messy and uncomfortable, but that's part of it. The "right" answer is hardly ever clear and it's very, very difficult to know which battles to fight, when to take the lead, and when to defer to somebody else but that doesn't mean we should stop.

It isn't?

 

[Neopolymath]

Without actually listening to what this person has to say, I can't help but feel that you're taking some creative liberties with their position.

You act woke in this thread and then pretend not know any white people that speak like this. This is legitimately shocking.

 

[BunnyMan17]

I believe it if it was anything like ours. Only one member of the panel was reasonable and had something enlightening to say. In addition to the white guilt guy, we also had someone who stereotyped an entire patient population and then responded to a question about bias by claiming she had none.

Sounds about right. Most of the social awareness type panels they do are actually pretty good. This one I feel like they always hit a wierd chord with. Ours managed to come across as really snowflakey (I kid you not even the people in our class that identify as social justice warrior types were like "wtf you saying willis??") and somehow trivialized a lot of other perinent race in medicine issues. Which many of the POC in our class, very reasonably I will add, took issue with.

 

[Osminog]

There probably was a better way for those students to approach admin about it, yeah. But the outrage over this topic is dumb IMO. If you're at that school and you didn't think that q was a big deal, and you see the email from the professor, okay... so what? You move on, it doesn't impact you at all.

And being outraged over the reactions of classmates/other students isn't all reflective of the mindset of a future physician either. It's all good. This isn't a big deal at all lol.

The reason that people get outraged over these sorts of situations is that they set a dangerous precedent. There have to be limits set on what people can be reasonably offended by, and we have to recognize that some cases of offending people don't merit apologies or discipline for the offender.

Let's say I got a speeding ticket and told my neighbor that I now have a "black mark on my driving record." If my neighbor were to tell me that I'm a racist and bigot for using the term "black mark," should I have to apologize for using the term? Should I have to beg him not to tell my employer so I don't get canned? No. What my neighbor would need to hear from me is, "That's an accepted idiom in the English language, and it has do with having a negative notation on one's record. I hope you know that it has absolutely nothing to do with race."

We are moving toward a society in which, if you belong to a certain group that is deemed underprivileged, your offense is automatically deemed worthy of attention and care, at the expense of whomever you decide to accuse of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. I find this trend very disturbing, given that it's completely antithetical to the spirit of free expression and the marketplace of ideas. While you may not be concerned by this right now, perhaps one day you or someone you care about will be criticized and slandered for causing offense by saying or doing something completely innocuous; maybe then you'll see the problem.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Sounds about right. Most of the social awareness type panels they do are actually pretty good. This one I feel like they always hit a wierd chord with. Ours managed to come across as really snowflakey (I kid you not even the people in our class that identify as social justice warrior types were like "wtf you saying willis??") and somehow trivialized a lot of other perinent race in medicine issues. Which many of the POC in our class, very reasonably I will add, took issue with.

Yep. I think most of our class felt that way too. I was excited to hear a panel about social and race issues in healthcare and was pretty disappointed. All the other panels have been good though.

 

[BunnyMan17]

Yep. I think most of our class felt that way too. I was excited to hear a panel about social and race issues in healthcare and was pretty disappointed. All the other panels have been good though.

We had a follow up small group that was really good though. A lot of differing viewpoints and a lot of different backgrounds but it was extremely enlightening. I think the key there was we all discussed sensitive topics in good faith, which I think has become something of a lost art. None of us were on edge thinking the other person would jump down our throats or hose our character if we accidentally stepped on a landmine. There were no assumptions on what the "other person" thought of us. Nobody asked leading questions and we didn't resort to ad hominems when there was disagreement.

 

[DocVapor]

I like to fancy myself a reasonable dude. If I had written this test question and students complained about the phrase given the current climate, I would apologize too. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, but in retrospect maybe I could word that one differently this year and return to the original next year.

I don’t find anything groveling in that nor do I give a rats arse about being PC. I’m just a reasonable human who can see why that particular phrase could be upsetting at the moment and I’d feel bad that I had inadvertently upset students I care about. I hope that’s what happened here.

"The clinical vignette is based on real life chief complaints that patients regularly say asking for help from physicians. It is the responsibility of physicians and future physicians to learn to compartmentalize the various aspects of their lives so that they can react and treat patients appropriately even if they themselves have experiences that lead to strong negative associations. I do apologize that this question appeared at this particular point in time, but please use this as a learning experience, since this situation appears frequently, and never with a warning. Your future patients will be depending on you in times of dire need."

 

[deleted480308]

No, you're not responsible for how other white people act. You are responsible for your own actions, and inaction. Using myself as an example, I know I've let racist comments and jokes go unchallenged just to avoid stirring things up. When I was a teenager I can even think of absolutely horrible jokes I made to try and be "edgy" or funny. Is it my fault that a friend or family member makes a racist comment? Not really, but by just waving it away that sort of thing perpetuates a culture within your own circle, and then your circle starts overlapping with other circles. That's how I think about it, personally. I don't consider it to be bigoted at all.

But none of that justifies a “problem with whiteness class”. It could justify a “no one (including @bananafish94 ) should be acting like a racist because it’s not cool”

there is nothing unique about telling racist jokes to white people

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

We had a follow up small group that was really good though. A lot of differing viewpoints and a lot of different backgrounds but it was extremely enlightening. I think the key there was we all discussed sensitive topics in good faith, which I think has become something of a lost art. None of us were on edge thinking the other person would jump down our throats or hose our character if we accidentally stepped on a landmine. There were no assumptions on what the "other person" thought of us. Nobody asked leading questions and we didn't resort to ad hominems when there was disagreement.

Same. Our small group was great.

 

[deleted480308]

Relevant to the notion of punishing opinions.

Board ousting Windsor principal after ‘insanely tone-deaf’ posts on Black Lives Matter

WINDSOR — School officials moved to fire Windsor School Principal Tiffany Riley on Friday after she wrote a social media post seen as critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.The post, written Wednesday on Riley’s personal Facebook page, said she...

www.vnews.com

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Relevant to the notion of punishing opinions.

Board ousting Windsor principal after ‘insanely tone-deaf’ posts on Black Lives Matter

WINDSOR — School officials moved to fire Windsor School Principal Tiffany Riley on Friday after she wrote a social media post seen as critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.The post, written Wednesday on Riley’s personal Facebook page, said she...

www.vnews.com

That’s unbelievable. But honestly it was stupid of her to post anything. The current climate is that anything that could possibly be viewed as anything but 1000% supportive is racist.

 

[bananafish94]

"I can't breathe" also happens to be something that patients commonly say when they're having respiratory problems. Talk to any critical care or emergency physician, and they will tell you that they regularly hear patients saying that they're struggling to breathe.

Thanks for the perspective, I actually didn't know that.

It's simply not reasonable to connect the phrase "I can't breathe" in a clinical vignette involving a patient who's struggling to breathe with the slogan of a racial political organization.

Medicine is a field that requires some degree of mental toughness and resilience. Being "offended" by your own illogical connections between realistic clinical vignettes on a written exam and popular media stories, isn't at all reflective of the mindset of a future physician.

A couple things. First of all there's really no evidence at all to support the assertion that anybody was "offended" by this at all. I don't know, I don't actually know what the discussion was. My impression of this story is that there were students who felt there was just simply a better way to write the question. Maybe I'm wrong. Second of all it is in no way illogical to associate "I can't breathe" with BLM or police brutality. You would have to live under a rock not to understand why. Just walking down my street I see signs that say "I can't breathe." It's been the center of the public discourse for a month now. Third of all, and I don't really know exactly how to say this, but do you realize how you're coming across? I'm trying to respond to everyone who quotes me and I very much disagree with a lot of them, but yours are the only ones that are so heavy with disdain. I think we should all try to have a reasonable discussion in good faith.

 

[bananafish94]

You act woke in this thread and then pretend not know any white people that speak like this. This is legitimately shocking.

All I'm doing is discussing my opinion on the article. I'm really not trying to act in any particular way. No, I don't know anybody who says that all white people are inherently racist.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

All I'm doing is discussing my opinion on the article. I'm really not trying to act in any particular way. No, I don't know anybody who says that all white people are inherently racist.

This sentiment was basically the crux of the argument I heard from the guy on the panel and what I’ve heard a bunch of times.

STAFF OPINION: I'm racist, so are you. White people, let's improve.

 

[bananafish94]

But none of that justifies a “problem with whiteness class”. It could justify a “no one (including @bananafish94 ) should be acting like a racist because it’s not cool”

there is nothing unique about telling racist jokes to white people

Well I'd certainly hope the class covers more than that

 

[deleted688779]

Tell that to the white guy on our race panel whose entire purpose there was to tell us how white people are are inherently racist and should feel guilty about it.

To be honest, I wish it at least stopped there. The same sentiment has been spreading to the Asian/Asian-American community. Many, predominantly young, members of our community are spewing the notion that we are inherently racist, our culture is inherently anti-black, we should feel guilty about our place in society, or if another POC is talking about race then we as "oppressors" have no right to speak in the conversation, etc etc. There are buzz phrases like "proximity to whiteness". I'm not even strawman-ing; a quick look at my Facebook feed and it will immediately be apparent. Someone I've known for years managed to crowdsource couple thousand dollars to start a summer program intending to "radicalize Asian youth" and "deconstruct our culture and shame our community's inherent anti-blackness" (I wish that wording was an exaggeration but no). A close friend of mine commented in disagreement and was quickly labeled a "puppet".

In another instance I sat through 2 hours listening to undergrads/grad students from Berkeley screaming at my (Asian) students about how shameful their inherent privilege is, how they're responsible for the mistreatment of minorities (as if we're not a minority?), or how their success is not at all due to their own credit and hard work. Get em while they're young I guess???

 

[TRPMinus]

Relevant to the notion of punishing opinions.

Board ousting Windsor principal after ‘insanely tone-deaf’ posts on Black Lives Matter

WINDSOR — School officials moved to fire Windsor School Principal Tiffany Riley on Friday after she wrote a social media post seen as critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.The post, written Wednesday on Riley’s personal Facebook page, said she...

www.vnews.com

@bananafish94 this is the outcome of PC culture and the censorship of ideas. People are ruining careers over comments that are dissenting, and certainly not racist. If it were just a few people whining it wouldn’t be an issue. The issue is that they want to take away your livelihood because you disagree with them.

 

[bananafish94]

This sentiment was basically the crux of the argument I heard from the guy on the panel and what I’ve heard a bunch of times.

STAFF OPINION: I'm racist, so are you. White people, let's improve.

Interesting. Well I can't say I've heard that argument before and I'm sure the author's heart is in the right place but I don't agree. Although I certainly believe in unconscious/implicit bias and that white people are the beneficiaries of systemic racism.

 

[deleted480308]

Interesting. Well I can't say I've heard that argument before and I'm sure the author's heart is in the right place but I don't agree. Although I certainly believe in unconscious/implicit bias and that white people are the beneficiaries of systemic racism.

I'm going to disagree that their heart is in the right place. There is nothing right about leveling unearned accusations of racism

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

To be honest, I wish it at least stopped there. The same sentiment has been spreading to the Asian/Asian-American community. Many, predominantly young, members of our community are spewing the notion that we are inherently racist, our culture is inherently anti-black, we should feel guilty about our place in society, or if another POC is talking about race then we as "oppressors" have no right to speak in the conversation, etc etc. There are buzz phrases like "proximity to whiteness". I'm not even strawman-ing; a quick look at my Facebook feed and it will immediately be apparent. Someone I've known for years managed to crowdsource couple thousand dollars to start a summer program intending to "radicalize Asian youth" and "deconstruct our culture and shame our community's inherent anti-blackness" (I wish that wording was an exaggeration but no). A close friend of mine commented in disagreement and was quickly labeled a "puppet".

In another instance I sat through 2 hours listening to undergrads/grad students from Berkeley screaming at my (Asian) students about how shameful their inherent privilege is, how they're responsible for the mistreatment of minorities (as if we're not a minority?), or how their success is not at all due to their own credit and hard work. Get em while they're young I guess???

I once had to listen to a black student in a college class rant in front of everyone about how racist I am for being Jewish and how I support terrorism. When I spoke up to defend myself, I was basically told to shut up by the professor and that Jews are racist as a people, particularly against black people. That was fun.