Kudos to Howard Schwartz, professor emeritus of Oakland University, for completely nailing the modern scourge of people expecting never to be offended by anything.
He refers to such people as "snowflakes", who have been conditioned by schools, parents and universities to expect everyone to show them unconditional love. These people are offended by absolutely everything that does not conform with their self centred unchallenged view of the world.
As he says:
"No matter where you go in life, someone will be there to offend you.
Maybe it’s a joke you overheard on vacation, a spat at the office, or a
difference of opinion with someone in line at the grocery store.
Inevitably, someone will offend you and your values. If you cannot
handle that without losing control of your emotions and reverting back
to your “safe space” away from the harmful words of others, then you’re
best to just stay put at home."
Adding:
"Remember, though: if people
in the outside world scare you, people on the internet will downright
terrify you. It’s probably best to just accept these harsh realities of
life and go out into the world prepared to confront them wherever they
may be waiting."
Here is an article summarising his views and book (source
ZeroHedge):
‘People now experience the entire world as a form of bullying’
The political correctness movement that has swept college campuses, corporate America and mainstream life
can be traced back to a few psychological trends.
Howard Schwartz, professor emeritus of Oakland University, has for
years studied the psychology underlying political correctness, and in
his new
book Political Correctness and the Destruction of Social Order: Chronicling the Rise of the Pristine Self, he offers some clarity on
why the term “snowflakes” is now synonymous with college students today.
Schwartz, who taught classes in
social and behavioral science within its business school, said the term
stems from what he calls “the rise of the pristine self.”
Schwartz writes in the book that “this is a self that is touched by
nothing but love. The problem is that nobody is touched by nothing but
love, and so if a person has this as an expectation, if they have built
their sense of themselves around this premise, the inevitable appearance
of the something other than love blows this structure apart.”
He added in his interview that
“the oversensitivity of
individuals today, including political correctness and microaggressions,
all stem from this idea that people operating under the notion of the
pristine self view you as evil because you are showing them something
other than love.”
Schwartz points to the rise of helicopter parents and capitulating campus administrations as contributing to this phenomenon.
“People now experience the entire world as a form of
bullying. The helicopter parent protects the children from real dangers
but also fantasy dangers. These precious snowflakes are the children of
political correctness, their parents and schools lead them to believe
that the world is perfectly moralistic — they don’t live in the real
world, it is a fantasy,” he said.
Schwartz said the pristine self is a sort of narcissism – individuals
who regard themselves as pristine selves cannot handle the unlovingness
of the world, even if it manifests itself in indifference rather than
malice.
To them, everything is an act of offense.
“The university is the setting in which this narcissism
is nurtured and the university becomes a sort of protective figure.
Universities have become maternal institutions in which the patriarchy,
embodied within any authority, is hated,” he said. “This phenomenon is
developing at corporations as well.”
Schwartz said political correctness issues will pose great difficulty for organizations in the future.
“Weber famously discussed the impersonality of organizations, and
people have to know that organizations are places where they are not
necessarily outwardly loved. Their jobs are where they are going to have
a hard time,” he said.
“The one exception is certain social justice jobs, because they give
you work that insists in hating the patriarchy and perpetuate political
correctness as right and good,” he said, but added “we can’t have an
economy based off of these, though.”
At the end of the book’s introduction, Schwartz sums up his project by noting
“there is clearly an element of irrationality in political correctness.
It is a form of censorship without a censor; we impose it on ourselves.
Yet, it keeps us away from the reasoned discussion of social issues
which everybody can see are important, consequential, and desperately in
need of wide-ranging analysis. It does so through an
emotional power that is rarely gainsaid and which anyone can see is
ultimately against everyone’s interest.”
He told
The Fix he does believe the tide is turning away
from political correctness, however, and points to the presidential
election campaigns as evidence.
“The fact that we have Trump campaigning as the
‘anti-political correctness’ candidate is really interesting,” Schwartz
said. “It shows how far we have come and that this movement has lost
control of itself.”
* * *
As we explained previously..
Your Feelings Are Largely Irrelevant
Seriously, nobody who has already graduated college cares about your
feelings. That means that when you complain to your boss because your
co-worker mis-gendered you, he’s probably not going to bend over
backwards to bandage your wounds.
Given feelings are entirely
subjective in nature, it’s completely unreasonable to demand everyone
tip-toe around you to prevent yours from being hurt. The reality is that
people will offend you and hurt your feelings, and they won’t stop to
mop up your tears because they shouldn’t have to. Learning to
accept criticism, alternative viewpoints, and even outright insults will
make you happier in the long run than routinely playing the victim
card.
The Only Safe Space Is Your Home
No matter where you go in life, someone will be there to offend you.
Maybe it’s a joke you overheard on vacation, a spat at the office, or a
difference of opinion with someone in line at the grocery store.
Inevitably, someone will offend you and your values. If you cannot
handle that without losing control of your emotions and reverting back
to your “safe space” away from the harmful words of others, then you’re
best to just stay put at home.
Remember, though: if people
in the outside world scare you, people on the internet will downright
terrify you. It’s probably best to just accept these harsh realities of
life and go out into the world prepared to confront them wherever they
may be waiting.
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