The Mount Royal University hat incident and the fallout
So, a couple of days ago at Mount Royal University, this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5sosSHLt_c
If you don't want to or can't watch it, a student was directed by a fellow student to remove his "Make America Great Again" hat, on the grounds that the hat constituted "hate language" in a "safe space." He was told that this directive was backed by the President of the University. To be clear, he wasn't being asked to remove his hat, he was being told that he's not allowed to wear the hat. This is caught on camera by another student who champions the hat-wearer's right to wear the hat. Then another student, who apparently can't handle the conflict, yells for the hat-wearer and the guy filming the confrontation to "just go" - he then takes the hat from the guy and walks off, again directing the Trump supporter to "just leave."
Predictably, the vast majority of commenters feel that she overreacted...to say the least. Watching this video almost made me want to wear the Trump hat in solidarity with the guy. Almost, but not quite. A younger version of me would definitely have wanted to wear the hat.
I felt it was a missed opportunity. Instead of having a conversation about why Trump is so odious, it turned into a conversation about whether the student should or should not be allowed to wear the hat. Of course, the end result of that conversation is predictable - most people are going to reflexively defend freedom of expression, especially something so innocuous. But I feel there is another conversation to be had here.
There's a growing backlash on the internet against the phenomenon of the "SJW" or social justice warrior. The first time I heard this term I thought it was ludicrous, but I wasn't surprised. I mean, hasn't the internet always been a reactionary place? Why would anybody find a term like that an insult? I'd rather be a social justice wizard, in any case. Well, in the last year I've become convinced that some of these "SJWs" are indeed starting to give social justice causes a bad name and that the reactionary backlash is spreading beyond the internet. We discussed this in one of my classes today and most students do seem to feel that so-called "SJWs" are becoming a problem. I don't think they're really becoming the problem that their opponents like to say they are. Videos like this are just the low-hanging fruit that the internet loves to get angry about. Yeah, ridiculous people are gonna be ridiculous but most people won't stand for it. But when it makes the average person, who can't even define social justice (which I grew up thinking of as stuff like economic justice for marginalized groups) start to get a bad impression of completely reasonable things like "trigger warnings" on videos that show scenes of graphic violence, or "safe spaces," I start to worry. When I was young and first going to university my house was a "safe space," it meant that you could come out as gay or trans and not worry about being judged or beaten up or exposed. Now people think that "safe space" means a place where anything we find politically objectionable won't be tolerated - and not only that, they want this definition to extend to the entire university campus? Of course this generates opposition.
How do we take this conversation back from the right-wing? How do we deal with authoritarians in our midst? I take for granted that the ends don't justify the means and that the left absolutely must be committed to freedom of speech and freedom of expression to avoid looking like the bad guys.
Facepalm.
I would have been glad she spoke up too, if she hadn't told him he must remove the hat. There's a world of difference between "please take that off" or "you should really take that off" and "You need to take that off, I've already spoken with the University President and if you don't take it off or leave, you'll be speaking with him soon as well."
Trump is the Republican candidate. This is not that much different from saying people aren't allowed to wear Conservative Party hats.
edit: more importantly it should be obvious to anyone that shit like this makes us look bad. If you think Trump hats should be banned on University campuses the general population is going to see you as an authoritarian, and rightly so, and those of us who reject authoritarian solutions have to step away from you and tell you that you're wrong. We have NOTHING TO FEAR from a political statement, even a terrible one!
I think she was out of line too, in getting physical and insisting he leave.
I also don't think we necessarily need to treat it like it is a movement, especially with a fuzzy pejorative term like "social justice warriors".
I roll my eyes when I hear Jerry Seinfeld and John Cleese complaining about being driven off campuses by the politically correct.
It is one thing to correctly call bad and intolerant behaviour for what it is. Another to link it to groups and causes who for the most part are just as supportive of free expression as the rest of us.
And that bad behaviour and intolerance is hardly exclusive to the left.
She should have confronted the guy about the fact that Trump is leading a hate campaign, not told him to take the hat off. Making it about the hat was the only way she could give the guy the chance to pretend he was a victim.
That said...the guy did come off as exactly the sort who makes anonymous comments about You Tube videos.
Exactly!
In what way...I thought the guy did pretty much nothing except stand there and let the guy holding the camera do most of the talking.
Of course, but the left is supposed to be the side that stands against censorship and intolerance.
And I agree, it's not a movement, insofar as it exists at all it's overzealous, privileged individuals abusing notions of inclusivity and sensitivity so that they feel they are fighting the good fight. But authoritarians have always existed everywhere, including the left, and they have always been a problem.
There's a third option: do nothing.
I think the root of behaviour like this is the belief that if someone is wearing a Trump hat in public, and you dislike Trump, then you must do something about it. The hat is a problem, and you're the solution.
I certainly wouldn't use the term "SJW" to describe, say, a Native protest against development on their land, or workers fighting for an increase to the minimum wage.
But what term shall we use for a total stranger who feels the need to lecture you about factory farming in the supermarket checkout line, or a group that wants to ban the local Christmas parade because Santa is a heteronormative cis-sexist who promotes the use of slave labour, or an online campaign demanding new, gender-neutral names for all the chess pieces?
Or somebody who starts freaking out and yelling "sexual harassment" when somebody tells her that his name is "Hugh Mungus," or somebody who freaks out at a Lyft driver for having a hula girl on his dashboard...
It's starting to happen pretty frequently. All of these incidents are from the past few weeks. And I think it's mostly due to two things. One, cameras are everywhere nowadays, so if you do something ridiculous, the whole world will know about it (on the whole, this is a positive development, but people haven't adjusted yet). Two, social justice concepts have been entering the mainstream and are being championed by people who maybe don't actually understand the concepts themselves, or aren't capable of articulating them. They know who the enemy is, but they don't have respect for the idea of dialogue with "the enemy." Or, they are simply narcissists who want something to be angry at.
Agree with the do nothing part Magoo.
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I notice though no one is talking about the threats against the woman which is by far a much more important issue - why is that?
If you mean "why isn't the MSM talking about it?", take a peek. They totally are.
If you mean "why is nobody here talking about it?", well, this thread isn't even 16 hours old yet and it's still in the single digits.
At first I was going to say that I didn't bring it up because I feel it's obvious on a progressive board that threats are totally disgusting. But, that shouldn't be the point. You're right NorthReport. The Calgary Herald says that hundreds of people have been calling her parents home leaving threatening messages. That is actually the most important conversation to have of all. The people threatening her (or threatening the school) are the real pathological narcissists, doing things that they know are wrong because they want something to be angry at.
The MSM is talking about it, but you could read 20 different threads on different boards (or youtube comments...) and not get informed about the threats. It didn't come up in the class discussion I referred to earlier. A lot of people don't know about it...and I have to think that many of those who do are choosing not to talk about it, or they don't want to believe it is happening. Or they want to believe that people talking about the threats are just referring to nasty youtube comments or threads on reddit or 4chan (although there is no shortage of utterly vile stuff in all of those places that also crosses the line).
Given that I can't imagine even ONE babbler coming out in support of those threats, exactly what kind of "conversation" would this be?
Wouldn't it basically just be US finding something we can be mad about?
She certainly did her best to give that impression.
I was surprised when you said the campus had a policy of banning all political slogans because I doubt if it would survive a Charter challenge. I have no problem with someone wearing a Republican hat anymore than I would object to someone wearing a Conservative hat.
Here is a link to the Stuendt Code of Conduct.
https://www.mtroyal.ca/cs/groups/public/documents/pdf/code_of_student_co...
There is always a minority of racist assholes to support people like that but they are not the majority. You know similar to the people in Quebec who liked Le Pen's message when she was there.
She took the bait. The best response to the hat was to ignore it.
How is a hat like that "bait"?
It's a plain red hat with the slogan of the Republican candidate written on it. There are literally millions of them.
Given the videoing of the situation, I think this was a contrived, baiting scenario.
That said I have reminded my students twice this term that the sole purpose of universities is the creation, preservation and distribution of knowledge.
Caissa, it takes three seconds to pull out your phone and start recording. There are button shortcuts for it. For just such a scenario!
Believe me, I am ready to start recording at the slightest hint of a public disagreement or controversy.
Given where the recording started, I think the chances of this being a "contrived, baiting scenario" are virtually nil. It's not like the hat is something you'd never see anywhere. Not like Donald Trump is running for President of the USA or something.
Not that I don't think he has a right to wear the hat, and not that I think she had any right to do what she did, but of course people sometimes wear slogans to get a reaction, or at he very least to make people look and steam.
So I wouldn't go so far as to say the whole thing was contrived, and blame him for getting himself attacked, but think that is fair comment.
From her perspective, yeah. She took the bait which she should have just ignored.
See, now that is exactly why I do keep a "bait" shirt. Because of my insecurity and my pathetic loss in life.
"Veterans for McCain", in case you were wondering. A classic.
On the other hand, I suppose this is just someone standing up for a good cause. No emotional problems or "cool offensive" trolling there:
I didn't compare McCain to Trump.
You made a general statement about treating the wearing of slogans as a pathological condition.
(never mind that "Make America Great Again", which is the slogan we are talking about here isn't in itself a sexist or racist statement)
I am just questioning whether that condition is specific to those on the right. I wouldn't have guessed that you meant it was a mental illness specific to Trump supporters.
(edit)
and you should know by now I could care less about perceived embarrassment here. There is more than enough of that to go around.
Magoo, I believe this may be what you were referring to upthread.
We're talking about a hat endorsing one of the two major party candidates for US. Not a swastika. I highly doubt that you actually deal with people in this manner IRL though. Do you flip off the driver of every car sporting a right-wing bumper sticker too?
I think it comes down to the contrast between candidate and supporters.
Does Trump deserve to be called out for his actions? Absolutely.
When it comes to supporters, I think it is fair to ask them if they have considered what they are supporting. To automatically assume that they are racists though? Over the line, IMO.
And in saying that, I'd add that I think it was fair, if not perhaps smart, for Clinton to make the statement she did about Trump supporters. After all, there have been assaults, and one of those supporters is David Duke.