I haven’t seen anything quite as drastic as the events in the article, but as a current college student, it definitely feels familiar. To me it feels like there is a very strict divide between people who have “bought into” the social justice / PC memeplex and people who have not. I don’t necessarily mean that these groups don’t intermingle. I mean simply that I could pretty much label my friends’ alignments on these issues on a binary scale. Non-PC people will usually be okay with e.g. someone using the word “gay” as a general term of dislike. It also seems like there is very little meaningful dialogue between these groups. When a PC person talks about these issues, they will typically use words like “privilege” and “oppression” which will make it clear what side they are on. A non-PC person will usually not use these terms or verbally surround them with scare quotes. Once people see that a person is on the opposite side as them, they will see them as the enemy and not really make an effort to find common ground, writing them off as “just another one of those PC people” or “just an ignorant privileged person”. Of course, within the classroom, PC rules.
The other day I witnessed a big fight within my friend-group on social media because someone referred to a gay friend of ours (not privy to the conversation) as having a “gay voice”. Someone said this was offensive, someone told that person to stop being so politically correct, and a vocal argument ensued.
My experience is similar to yours except that the non-PC people are generally more reserved about what their willing to say then you made it sound like. Also, PC rules not just within the classroom but on all the billboards pictures hanging outside offices, etc.
I haven’t seen anything quite as drastic as the events in the article, but as a current college student, it definitely feels familiar. To me it feels like there is a very strict divide between people who have “bought into” the social justice / PC memeplex and people who have not. I don’t necessarily mean that these groups don’t intermingle. I mean simply that I could pretty much label my friends’ alignments on these issues on a binary scale. Non-PC people will usually be okay with e.g. someone using the word “gay” as a general term of dislike. It also seems like there is very little meaningful dialogue between these groups. When a PC person talks about these issues, they will typically use words like “privilege” and “oppression” which will make it clear what side they are on. A non-PC person will usually not use these terms or verbally surround them with scare quotes. Once people see that a person is on the opposite side as them, they will see them as the enemy and not really make an effort to find common ground, writing them off as “just another one of those PC people” or “just an ignorant privileged person”. Of course, within the classroom, PC rules.
The other day I witnessed a big fight within my friend-group on social media because someone referred to a gay friend of ours (not privy to the conversation) as having a “gay voice”. Someone said this was offensive, someone told that person to stop being so politically correct, and a vocal argument ensued.
My experience is similar to yours except that the non-PC people are generally more reserved about what their willing to say then you made it sound like. Also, PC rules not just within the classroom but on all the billboards pictures hanging outside offices, etc.