I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead

[LevelUP]

I Came to College Eager to Debate. I Found Self-Censorship Instead

Dr. Abrams said the environment on today’s campuses differs from his undergraduate experience. He recalled late-night debates with fellow students that sometimes left him feeling “hurt” but led to “the ecstasy of having my mind opened up to new ideas.” 

Piece of the Article & follow the bottom link of the page to the full article
https://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2022/03/07/not-good/

Full Article
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/opini...lture.html

Are these valid claims?

[Vle045]

Hmmm… they could be valid claims. I was in *traditional* college in the early 90’s. We talked about everything that is taboo these days. And we talked in a respectful way with those whose opinions differ. I lived in the dorm that seemed to have the most international students, so maybe that played a role. I am not sure. But we asked questions about religion, politics, sexuality… in a way to learn how others think.

I remember the first gay man that I met. I hated the guy. I remember being pretty upset with myself because I never thought of myself as a closed-minded person. But then I met more LGBTQ people and realized that I just didn’t like that one guy because he was an annoying jerk. LOL.

I remember meeting a guy who was into Esoterism, Wicca, Tarot Cards, Palm reading. We (as a group) talked into the wee hours about religion. I learned some things that helped me to respect all religions.

As for race/ethnicity…. For the life of me, I really don’t recall this ever being a hot button topic. Maybe I was in a weird circle of folks in high school and college. But both were very diverse groups of people and while I had full awareness of race/ethnicity, it never influenced how I felt about anyone. I do recall being asked by someone at my mom’s bowling league if I was “afraid” at school because of all the “black” kids. It wasn’t until that moment that I gave any thought to the fact that I was actually the only white girl on the cheerleading squad that year. But my response was along the lines of… “Why would I be afraid of someone based on the color of their skin? That would be like being afraid of someone just because they have different hair or eye color”.

Politics really never interested me, so I have no recollection of any of those topics.

People in general do seem to be choosing a side and digging in. I actually don’t even talk to my husband about ANY of those topics. His opinions on some of it differ from mine and I know from listening to him talk to his brother that he will argue. I realized that his opinions will not change and neither will mine so there’s really no point in discussion.