Episode 58
Jonathan Haidt | Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces, and the Coddling of the American Mind
Episode 58
Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt | Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces, and the Coddling of the American Mind
summary
On this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jonathan Haidt about how trigger warnings, safe spaces, and microaggressions are setting up the iGeneration for failure on America’s college campuses.
In the Fall of 2013, the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Greg Lukianoff, noticed that something odd was happening on America’s college campuses. Words were increasingly being seen as dangerous.
A series of strange reports began to emerge of undergraduates asking for threatening material to be removed from the college curriculum. By the Spring of 2014, The New York Times began reporting on this trend, including demands that school administrators disinvite speakers whose ideas students found offensive. But what was most concerning, beyond the sensitivity and the heckling, were the justifications being put forward by these undergraduates. They were claiming that certain kinds of speech interfered with their ability to function, jeopardizing their mental health and making them “feel unsafe.”
In one case, students at Columbia University argued that professors teaching core curriculum classes, which included the works of Ovid, Homer, Dante, Augustine, Montaigne, and Virginia Woolf, should issue “trigger warnings” when reading or assigning passages that might be interpreted as threatening. All of this prompted the publication of an article by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt that made the cover of the Atlantic Magazine in the summer of 2015. The article was titled “The Coddling of the American Mind.” In it, the two chronicled what they believed was happening on college campuses, including the emergence of what are termed, “trigger warnings,” “microaggressions,” and “safe spaces.” Little did Greg Lukianoff or Jonathan Haidt know that in the two years following the article’s publication, all hell would break loose at America’s universities.
In the fall of that year protests over issues of racial injustice erupted on dozens of campuses around the country. Amid these protests arose, however, a series of bizarre incidents leading to the resignations of several highly regarded professors and deans at some of the country’s most progressive universities. This included the physical assault of a professor at Middlebury College by the name of Allison Stanger, who was required to undergo six months of physical therapy and rehabilitation.
Perhaps the most bizarre case, however, is that of Evergreen State College in Washington State. In the spring of 2017, the college announced a “Day of Absence” where white students and faculty were expected to stay away from the school. In a letter of protest, biology professor Bret Weinstein refused to leave the college campus, leading to a series of frightening incidents of unrest where campus police became concerned for Weinstein’s physical safety, eventually leading to his resignation in September of last year.
This week, on Hidden Forces, Jonathan Haidt joins us for a conversation on trigger warnings, safe spaces, and how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up the iGeneration for failure. Jonathan and Greggory Lukianoff’s latest book, The Coddling of the American Mind, is now available in bookstores nationwide.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Jonathan Haidt is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Righteous Mind, and is one of the most cited intellectuals in the media. A professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Haidt is also the founder of Heterodox Academy, an organization consisting of some of the nation’s most respected professors that are committed to viewpoint diversity in higher education. He’s been named a “top global thinker” by Foreign Policy magazine, and his TED talk on moral foundations of liberals and conservatives has been viewed over 2.6 million times.
Twitter: @JonHaidt
Website: thefire.org
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Non quam nostram quidem, inquit Pomponius iocans; Nosti, credo, illud: Nemo pius est, qui pietatem-; Quod autem satis est, eo quicquid accessit, nimium est; Piso, familiaris noster, et alia multa et hoc loco Stoicos irridebat: Quid enim? Non enim, si omnia non sequebatur, idcirco non erat ortus illinc. Ex rebus enim timiditas, non ex vocabulis nascitur. Ut placet, inquit, etsi enim illud erat aptius, aequum cuique concedere. Primum Theophrasti, Strato, physicum se voluit; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quis istud, quaeso, nesciebat?
Dolere malum est: in crucem qui agitur, beatus esse non potest. Id enim volumus, id contendimus, ut officii fructus sit ipsum officium. Eam tum adesse, cum dolor omnis absit; Quid enim ab antiquis ex eo genere, quod ad disserendum valet, praetermissum est? Ut aliquid scire se gaudeant? Iam contemni non poteris. Quid enim de amicitia statueris utilitatis causa expetenda vides. An eum locum libenter invisit, ubi Demosthenes et Aeschines inter se decertare soliti sunt? Haec para/doca illi, nos admirabilia dicamus. Suo genere perveniant ad extremum; Quae fere omnia appellantur uno ingenii nomine, easque virtutes qui habent, ingeniosi vocantur. Expectoque quid ad id, quod quaerebam, respondeas.
Apparet statim, quae sint officia, quae actiones. Facete M. Nemo igitur esse beatus potest. Sullae consulatum? Si longus, levis. Isto modo, ne si avia quidem eius nata non esset. Videsne quam sit magna dissensio?
Sed quae tandem ista ratio est? Zenonis est, inquam, hoc Stoici. Quam multa vitiosa! summum enim bonum et malum vagiens puer utra voluptate diiudicabit, stante an movente? Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse? Quae cum magnifice primo dici viderentur, considerata minus probabantur. Ex ea difficultate illae fallaciloquae, ut ait Accius, malitiae natae sunt. Qui-vere falsone, quaerere mittimus-dicitur oculis se privasse;
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem. De vacuitate doloris eadem sententia erit. Sequitur disserendi ratio cognitioque naturae; Vidit Homerus probari fabulam non posse, si cantiunculis tantus irretitus vir teneretur; Quae cum dixisset paulumque institisset, Quid est? Et nunc quidem quod eam tuetur, ut de vite potissimum loquar, est id extrinsecus; Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Sit hoc ultimum bonorum, quod nunc a me defenditur; Quare conare, quaeso. Tertium autem omnibus aut maximis rebus iis, quae secundum naturam sint, fruentem vivere. Videsne ut, quibus summa est in voluptate, perspicuum sit quid iis faciendum sit aut non faciendum? Eaedem res maneant alio modo. Illud non continuo, ut aeque incontentae. Est autem etiam actio quaedam corporis, quae motus et status naturae congruentis tenet; Ad eos igitur converte te, quaeso. At enim hic etiam dolore. Ita enim vivunt quidam, ut eorum vita refellatur oratio.
Quis est tam dissimile homini. Ut enim consuetudo loquitur, id solum dicitur honestum, quod est populari fama gloriosum. Ita similis erit ei finis boni, atque antea fuerat, neque idem tamen; Eadem nunc mea adversum te oratio est. Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Idemque diviserunt naturam hominis in animum et corpus. Quae sequuntur igitur? Universa enim illorum ratione cum tota vestra confligendum puto. Expectoque quid ad id, quod quaerebam, respondeas.
Quis non odit sordidos, vanos, leves, futtiles? Inscite autem medicinae et gubernationis ultimum cum ultimo sapientiae comparatur. Vitae autem degendae ratio maxime quidem illis placuit quieta. Fatebuntur Stoici haec omnia dicta esse praeclare, neque eam causam Zenoni desciscendi fuisse. Quid, si reviviscant Platonis illi et deinceps qui eorum auditores fuerunt, et tecum ita loquantur? Aliter enim explicari, quod quaeritur, non potest. Quo invento omnis ab eo quasi capite de summo bono et malo disputatio ducitur. Aut haec tibi, Torquate, sunt vituperanda aut patrocinium voluptatis repudiandum. Mene ergo et Triarium dignos existimas, apud quos turpiter loquare?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Dolere malum est: in crucem qui agitur, beatus esse non potest. Itaque sensibus rationem adiunxit et ratione effecta sensus non reliquit. Expectoque quid ad id, quod quaerebam, respondeas.
Quid, cum fictas fabulas, e quibus utilitas nulla elici potest, cum voluptate legimus? Quamquam te quidem video minime esse deterritum.
Quae sequuntur igitur? Teneo, inquit, finem illi videri nihil dolere. Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. Restincta enim sitis stabilitatem voluptatis habet, inquit, illa autem voluptas ipsius restinctionis in motu est.
Ut id aliis narrare gestiant? Ex ea difficultate illae fallaciloquae, ut ait Accius, malitiae natae sunt. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Hanc quoque iucunditatem, si vis, transfer in animum;
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerumque moriuntur. Gracchum patrem non beatiorem fuisse quam fillum, cum alter stabilire rem publicam studuerit, alter evertere. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quid, si etiam iucunda memoria est praeteritorum malorum? Cum autem in quo sapienter dicimus, id a primo rectissime dicitur.
Quo tandem modo? Cur igitur, inquam, res tam dissimiles eodem nomine appellas? Quodsi, ne quo incommodo afficiare, non relinques amicum, tamen, ne sine fructu alligatus sis, ut moriatur optabis. Septem autem illi non suo, sed populorum suffragio omnium nominati sunt. Nam illud quidem adduci vix possum, ut ea, quae senserit ille, tibi non vera videantur.
Et quidem, inquit, vehementer errat; Non est ista, inquam, Piso, magna dissensio. Naturales divitias dixit parabiles esse, quod parvo esset natura contenta. Prioris generis est docilitas, memoria; Graece donan, Latine voluptatem vocant. Nobis Heracleotes ille Dionysius flagitiose descivisse videtur a Stoicis propter oculorum dolorem.
Itaque eos id agere, ut a se dolores, morbos, debilitates repellant. Illud quaero, quid ei, qui in voluptate summum bonum ponat, consentaneum sit dicere. Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. Id Sextilius factum negabat. Quid enim de amicitia statueris utilitatis causa expetenda vides. Deinde disputat, quod cuiusque generis animantium statui deceat extremum. Non dolere, inquam, istud quam vim habeat postea videro; Honesta oratio, Socratica, Platonis etiam.