South Park has been having some fun at the expense of political correctness, and the SJW phenomena, that seems to have finally gone mainstream. I like to think of it as millennial flu. I got inoculated against the PC stuff back in the eighties, but the kids today, sick sick sick. It’s been percolating for years of course…
It’s amazing though how life and art seem to compete for the crown of ridiculous nonsense. Oh, for the days when it was as simple as us moderns vs the medieval.
“To put it another way, a feminist group criticized a feminist for talking about how Islamic beliefs oppress women.”
Unbelievable you say?
Genius Poe, Absurdist trolling?
Nothing is impossible when the oppression card is in play.
But my privilege must be in need of checking.
Certainly worth the price of admission.
Seriously tho…
Brave woman stands up against those trying to bully her into silence, good on her. Stay strong. Keep speaking.
It’s no great secret – and should come as no surprise – that not everyone who labels themselves a feminist is actually any good at it. That’s true for any label.
All we have here is a case where a group of students *thought* they understood the label, and that their personal beliefs were a good fit for it, and are now learning the hard lesson that they were very wrong. This is a good thing; learning is what students are supposed to do. It’s perhaps unfortunate that they’re learning that lesson very *publicly*. But they brought that on themselves, and at least they’re learning – and so are others by proxy, presumably – which is a good thing. Students should be expected to do really stupid things from time to time; it’s part of the process.
(And of course, the Muslim organization is also learning – also very publicly – a very hard lesson. I’d like to hope the example they’ve made of themselves is making Muslim student organizations all over nervous, and self-reflective. I hold out less hope for them, though, mostly because almost all the talk about this incident takes pains to talk about Namazie and her positions, and the shameful behaviour of the Feminist and LGBTQ+ associations… very few talk about the positions of the Muslim organization (or their president).)
Honestly, I don’t see these kinds of shenanigans as “political correctness run amok”. Instead, I see them as natural selection in the context of ideas. Natural selection is always messy, inefficient… frankly bizarre and idiotic at times… but it does get the job done. Eventually. The mutation of feminism those students believe in is maladaptive, and is now being viciously weeded out.
This is how freedom of expression and the open exchange of ideas is *supposed* to work. There should be nothing surprising in the fact that it’s happening between progressives, rather than between a progressive and a conservative, either. Why would that be peculiar, after all? Progressive ideas need to evolve too.
Are we just acknowledging that Islam teaches oppression? Why they pretend to be offended for their beliefs is obvious deceit.
If Canadian culture, whatever this still means, believes in less oppression, well that’s just our culture. We can readily justify our culture by our ever improving understanding of the humanities. If we believe our culture is so grand then we should be advocating our humanistic values to all the world. This includes Saudi Arabia and the Vatican: even Pakistan.
Honestly, I don’t see these kinds of shenanigans as “political correctness run amok”…The mutation of feminism those students believe in is maladaptive, and is now being viciously weeded out.
Maybe, but identifying it as an instance of “political correctness run amok” isn’t a bad way of summarising what makes it maladaptive, or at least highly undesirable.
Natural selection is always messy, inefficient… frankly bizarre and idiotic at times… but it does get the job done. Eventually.
Yep. Creates all kinds of exquisitely adapted horrific diseases and loathsome parasites. If cultural evolution really is closely analogous to biological evolution by natural selection, we’re pretty much screwed. Fortunately, I think there are significant differences between the two processes.
“Students should be expected to do really stupid things from time to time; it’s part of the process”
I agree with this, it was essentially the position I took with regards to the Dal University dental student fiasco, where some Facebook likes were blown up into a career-killing witch hunt. There are however many who are not at the level of ignorant undergrad, who should know better, and who are still jumping on the PC train.
#notallfeminists of course.
But… No small minority either. Call it what you will, this is the bad-feminism I remember from my own undergrad days, the kind that turned me off the label. It’s not new, nor rare, nor limited to students.
I have been following this the last few days, rhetoric flying every which way, even read some comments from the lgbx calling those Muslim bullies ‘Islamist’. That made me cringe. So you are correct, it’s a bit a shitstorm… Er …open exchange… between progressives. Heh.
I agree they have a right to express themselves and they all should, but pulling the plug on a speakers presentation?… trying to shout an invited speaker down? It may be selection, but imo it is not how free speech is supposed to work, and certainly not in the context of higher education.
Natural selection might be a reality in the natural world, but civilization demands a higher standard.
Boys will be boys is not a good excuse. Conservative or progressive.