Unpopular opinion: PC policing is going WAY TOO far.

[tishaLA]

23. Oh those damned kids! Everything would be great if they weren't so coddled!

and other bullshit like that.

I have the pleasure of teaching lots of fine college students who, in their intellectual development, take a lot of extreme (and sometimes ridiculous) positions. And that's part of growth: testing boundaries and expanding them, coming up against walls and sometimes crashing them down. I have no problem with any of that. This past year, one of my brightest students decided he wanted to read several books by a someone I think is beneath him and my initial response was, "Really? You want to read HER? She's so reductive and you always know the answer is going to be the same." But then I corrected myself and said, "You know what? I'm wrong. You have to believe in things before you can unbelieve them, so go ahead and enjoy her, but realize that you have a whole journey to complete after her. And if you want voices critical of her theories, come back to me and I'll be more than happy to help you."

As I said, that's all part of intellectual growth.

The more reprehensible people in that first video IMO are the adults who are supporting the kids who seem excited about escalating the situation even though they have to know better--the people who live vicariously through the passions of the students. The woman at the end, especially, who wants "some muscle over here" to deal with the reporter is especially noxious. Thankfully the first video is entirely dissimilar to the others.

But overall I think the haggling over what is and isn't appropriate, what should and shouldn't be said, is fine. It allows both sides to grow, even in their frustration.