The Timid Little People Of The Left
[guest post by Dana]
I have always maintained that the progressive left is the most narrow-minded, fearful group of people around. And once again, it is confirmed:
Yale University’s three-year-old William F. Buckley, Jr. Program seeks to bring politically conservative perspectives to the overwhelmingly liberal campus by, among other things, inviting conservative speakers to campus.
“The mission of the program from the beginning, and we stand true to this now, is to promote intellectual diversity on campus, so we try to bring a variety of viewpoints to Yale, and we try to foster honest and serious debate,” Lauren Noble, a 2011 Yale graduate and founder of the program, told the Yale Daily News.
One of the guest speakers this year will be Ayaan Hirsi Ali! However, note the whimpers of worry from student Helen Price:
“When you invite very conservative speakers here who perhaps have controversial views on Islam or homosexuality, you essentially make Yale a very uncomfortable place for a large percentage of the people here on campus, and everyone should feel at home at college”.
One hopes these timid little girls of the left who continue to embarrass and shame women everywhere with their adolescent fear of those who think and believe differently than themselves will find the strength to have their own presuppositions and notions challenged and provoked. They might even find themselves… gasp… inspired!
Courage, ladies!
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (4dbf62) — 9/7/2014 @ 2:00 pmHelen Price, as my mother Helen would have told her, “should grow a pair!” To which I’d add “You can’t raise a thousand ships quivering in your room, you can’t even raise a rubber ducky!”
htom (412a17) — 9/7/2014 @ 2:03 pmHelen sounds like typical ivy league trash
the more interesting question is why Ayaan Hirsi Ali is slumming at Yale
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/7/2014 @ 2:13 pmAsymmetric warfare is very difficult for the Helen Prices of this world. On the one hand, they have muslim butchers who promise violence to those they oppose, and on the other, there are survivors like Ayaan Hirsi Ali who would like to warn others about the dangers of submitting to the butcher’s mercy. The butcher says “listen to her, and we’ll chop your head off.” Ali says beware. The choice is obvious. Don’t let Ali speak. It will keep the butchers happy.
Do any of the these lefty cowards know the dangers that confront them? Perhaps some emphasis on what is passed off as “genitial mutilation” would get their attention. This is the welcome mat the butchers roll out for new female converts.
But be of good cheer! HteWon will address the nation on Wednesday with his plan to right our foundering ship. Look for a lot of desert-camo-clade interns to provide a suitable visual backdrop.
bobathome (5ccbd8) — 9/7/2014 @ 2:23 pmthe more interesting question is why Ayaan Hirsi Ali is slumming at Yale
Perhaps she of all people understands how deeply this group needs to keep having her message relentlessly pounded into their naively misguided hearts. Perhaps she might find in just one student or faculty member a heart still soft enough and mind still curious enough to consider her words *before* falling lockstep in line. And perhaps they might even consider that their little house of cards will not be able to stand against an army that not only sanctions FGM, but even worse, the mutilation of life itself and the privilege of living it.
Dana (4dbf62) — 9/7/2014 @ 2:52 pmwho knows in thirty years she can be chancellor, or provost:
http://www.popehat.com/2014/09/06/u-c-berkeley-chancellor-nicholas-dirks-gets-free-speech-very-wrong/
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:02 pm“…you essentially make Yale a very uncomfortable place for a large percentage of the people here on campus,…”
The irony of that statement is no doubt lost Ms. Price, as she could care less about how devout Christians or political conservative feel when she her fellow travelers “speak truth to power!!” Gee, I thought that college was a place to be intellectually challenged Ms. Price, I guess for you and yours not so much.
Ipso Fatso (10964d) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:05 pmWhat else could we expect from a student whose education no longer includes grades? Of course she’s “comfortable” there. She does not have to compete, and everyone tells her she’s special at least once a day.
Kyle (db134b) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:17 pmHere’s a suggestion Ms. Price- listen to different views…let people you don’t know well be heard. Do that often enough, and you’ll be comfortable in college. Comfortable in your own skin. Comfortable that you’ll treat others with decency and courtesy. Comfortable that you’ll invite opposing views before you make decisions. Comfortable that when your secluded, protected existence ends on graduation, you might have something more than whining to contribute to the society around you.
Well, as a freshman she is probably only 18 and for all her intellectual pretensions she is but a callow girl. I blame the adults she grew up around — likely her parents and her teachers — for cocooning her and allowing her to believe that she never has to hear opinions that might scandalize her delicate lefty sensibilities. Maybe, just maybe, Yale might be a learning experience for her, and not just their notorious Sex Week extravaganza. But I won’t hold my breath.
JVW (638245) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:30 pmOn par with this student’s lack of courage is her appalling ignorance. Anyone who has read anything by Hirsi Ali would hardly call her a “conservative”. She started politics with the Labor Party in the Netherlands, but got disappointed when they turned a deaf ear to her concerns about the treatment of Muslim women (because they did not want to lose the “Muslim vote” from the men that abused them). While Hirsi courage is real, she has some views (such as her strident secularism) that many conservatives would find hard to swallow. The fact that conservatives choose to invite her is evidence their open-mindedness and intellectual diversity.
Tony (2a43e2) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:31 pmDana, this is an example of exactly the weird Orwellian thought conformity common on campus these days. I realize that you know this very well. It bears repeating. After all, our POTUS basted in this environment his entire adult life.
I don’t recall if I told you this story, Dana. I was on a committee investigating “hate speech incidents” on campus (yes, me!). Anyway, a group of staff and faculty would get together to discuss the latest outrage. And I must admit, people scrawling racial epithets on campus upset me…even though I am sure some of it is done for effect, and also by folks interested int the current climate of ethocentricity on most campuses.
Anyway, a very earnest faculty member brought up that someone had written something “racialist” on a blackboard in the library. I waited.
She said, with tones of great concern, that someone had written “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY” on the blackboard.
I laughed out loud.
She looked offended, and I realized: she didn’t know that was from Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four.”
This is absolutely true, Dana.
Anyway, I carefully and gently suggested that the committee was being trolled, and explained why. What worried me were the other faculty who also didn’t recognize the quotation.
I’m sure that (I hope) it was contextual. One of the things about the weird climate on campus is how humorless it has become. It reminds me of those earnest, syntactically challenged screeds written by 1930s socialists.
Maybe things don’t really change.
So I am not surprised that some ideas are more equal than others on campus. And that freedom of expression only applies to the correct opinions. Newthink and thoughtcrimes are with us.
Heck, it’s everywhere now.
Simon Jester (f41e76) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:40 pmThe interesting thing is that there are people that are both anti-anti-Islam and anti-anti-homosexuality, but don’t notice that Islam is very much against homosexuality, more than just about anybody else..
Sammy Finkelman (728434) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:49 pmThe idea that infantilizing women is strictly the province of the left is sheer nonsense. It has been and continues to be a foundational element of social conservatism. Just ask Helen Price’s mirror image on the right, Elayne Bennett.
ThOR (130453) — 9/7/2014 @ 3:59 pmYes, activities on campus should be inclusive and promote tolerance so all feel welcome.
Such as the traditional beating of the Jews on move-in day:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/08/pro-israel-student-attacked-at-temple-university/
See what I mean? “Templefest,” where the Students for Justice in Palestine don’t just hand out literature but inclusively engage in interactive demonstrations of their core beliefs by involving members of the campus community on a personal level.
If you grew up in Sderot, you’d feel right at home in the tolerant, vibrant, and diverse tapestry that is the Temple University community.
Steve57 (e0f6ab) — 9/7/2014 @ 4:00 pm#12 Sammy, The tribalists in Afganistan must not have gotten your memo Sammy. Or maybe it’s ok provided the victims are (pre)adolescent boys? I haven’t been diligent in my perusal of the koran. Maybe there is an exception based on age?
bobathome (5ccbd8) — 9/7/2014 @ 4:01 pmThere, contained in that young woman’s statement, you have in a nutshell, wonderfully distilled, the essence of Leftist lemming groupthink conformity. Dissent, debate, questioning conventional wisdom and criticism of prevailing orthodoxies are to be avoided, because they disrupt the kumbaya tent and make people “uncomfortable.” Better to march in robotic lockstep and maintain the pretense of making people “comfortable” by avoiding any scintilla of intellectual disagreement.
Guy Jones (df6cf0) — 9/7/2014 @ 4:01 pmSimon, even without the literary ignorance displayed by your colleagues, how is that statement racist?
Gazzer (26a83c) — 9/7/2014 @ 4:03 pmTo them slavery is an inherently black condition even though plenty of whites have been enslaved over the years.
“the progressive left is the most narrow-minded, fearful group of people around”
Narrow-minded, yes. In spades.
There is an old joke that applies to leftists: “Beaten up too much as a child, or not enough?”
pst314 (ae6bd1) — 9/7/2014 @ 4:08 pmthOR,
I’m not familiar with Elayne Bennett, but just read a few things and it seems she appears to be about helping young girls safely navigate through the rough waters of adolescence. I can’t imagine anyone could take issue with that. And admittedly it was a quick googling of her, I didn’t see her infantilizing women. Is there something specific you are thinking?
Dana (4dbf62) — 9/7/2014 @ 5:06 pmOh, I quite agree, Gazzer. But I have to hear, over and over again, that Western Civilization is the most racist culture on earth.
Um.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 9/7/2014 @ 5:11 pmLet’s hope they never find out that TFG was descended from slave traders, poor little lambs.
Gazzer (26a83c) — 9/7/2014 @ 5:18 pmNo such luck, Dana.
askeptic (efcf22) — 9/7/2014 @ 6:09 pmThese little hot-house flowers have been kept in their little cocoons all their lives and just can’t countenance that there may be countervailing opinions, or – horrors – FACTS!
The few comments at the Yale Daily News roasted Miss Price.
Miss Price may be perfectly forthright (if silly). I suspect when reasoning such as hers is offered, it’s usually humbug. The person in question is just disgusted that there are alternative viewpoints and expresses that with a schoolmarmish ‘concern’ over someone else’s sensibilities.
Art Deco (ee8de5) — 9/7/2014 @ 6:20 pmJust knowing that someone got invited makes the whole place uncomfortable? I assume none of those people who would be made so uncomfortable would actually go listen to her. So they’d be real uncomfortable while sitting around in the student union, watching the football team etc. just because they were invited – if we can believe what she says. But she may just be BS’ing.
Gerald A (d65c67) — 9/7/2014 @ 7:02 pmSweetheart just stick your fingers in your shell like little ears, and yell, ” Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa, I can’t hear you”, and the irritating speech will be over with no more pain than your average rectal exam at your annual physical. Won’t hurt you at all.
Skeptical Voter (12e67d) — 9/7/2014 @ 7:55 pmFrom her Twitter feed: Yale student, leftie, Berliner, Brit, blogger @Guardian & @VagendaMagazine. My Marxist feminist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.
Dana (4dbf62) — 9/7/2014 @ 7:57 pmWell, this behavior is the norm in politics these days, ala’ Alinsky, marginalize, demonize, personal attack, never bother with a rational discussion of meaning. And for the left it seems that politics=life=politics.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/7/2014 @ 8:11 pmOne title/description of the devil in the NT is “accuser of the brethren”, accusing day and night of one thing or another. The Lucifalinskyites do a lot of accusing.
Her Marxist feminist dialectic brings all the boys to Harvard Yard.
NickM (f8e14b) — 9/7/2014 @ 9:42 pmFreedom isn’t free in fact it is the most expensive thing their is. This not about free speech it is about money and who is spending the money to force their views on others. Who funded this buckley program? As deep throat said in watergate follow the money!
Mr.gop (13c5be) — 9/7/2014 @ 10:39 pmIf college students never encounter unfamiliar, unsettling, opposing, or even distasteful views they’ll never learn to digest anything beyond the currently fashionable orthodox pablum being spoon fed them by similarly malnourished professional troglodytes. Insularity guarantees ignorance.
But, Ms Price knows that, she’s dutifully recycling warmed over leftist boilerplate rubbish masquerading as sensitivity to uncomfortable feelings to conceal a blatant strong-arm assault on the Constitutional right to free speech. She fully intends to silence opposing voices, but she’s duplicitous enough to cloak the bludgeon in pious expressions of concern for the well-being of others.
It’s a crock, but leftist goons have been pulling the same idiot stunt for years and getting away with it. Ms Price is just another Pavlovian barking dog.
ropelight (36b164) — 9/8/2014 @ 6:32 amWhy? Because the N + 1st iteration is always the charm, of course.
gary gulrud (46ca75) — 9/8/2014 @ 7:39 amRopelight, that’s the whole idea behind political correctness.
Hoagie (4dfb34) — 9/8/2014 @ 9:28 amI am WOMAN — hear me meow.
Robert (1c758d) — 9/8/2014 @ 9:33 amRemember, our rights end where a leftist’s feelings begin. Helen feels uncomfortable. Next, she’ll feel offended and then it’s all over. Oh, if Helen’s colored, then the whole program is racist, too. I’m just wondering if Helen is going to sue for compensation and does Yale provide mental health or PTSD counseling for traumatized Helens.
Gusto Smooth (941ba0) — 9/8/2014 @ 9:51 amMaybe they should ask Ann Coulter to speak? Just a thought.
TheHat (58d08b) — 9/8/2014 @ 10:23 amGentleBeings – you missed some obvious clues …
“blogger @Guardian” – apparently, she is proud to associate herself with the world-standard archetypical nadir of inaccuracies that is the Grauniad – known throughout the far-flung British Empire (and its descendant countries) and beyond for the truly-incredible standards of its contributors and editorial staff – who, many times, couldn’t even spell the name of their own newspaper correctly – hence it becoming legendary as The Grauniad …
“Berliner” – she considers herself to be a jelly-filled doughnut …
And, of course, “Marxist feminist dialectic” – need I say more ?
Alastor (e7cb73) — 9/8/2014 @ 10:28 am#32, Right on! Hoagie, political correctness is the cultural face of Marxist economics. It’s the other side of the same dictatorial coin, just as Marxism tolerates no free competition in the market place, political correctness tolerates no public expression of competitive ideas.
Accuracy in Academia published an excellent historical article on PC’s birth following WW-1 and its development to the near present: The Origins of Political Correctness by Bill Lind dated February 2, 2000
ropelight (36b164) — 9/8/2014 @ 10:43 amno, they aren’t timid, they just differ who the real enemy is:
http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/09/08/in-atypical-approach-grand-jury-in-ferguson-shooting-receives-full-measure-of-case/
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/8/2014 @ 10:47 amThat a student feels she isn’t even at home in a place where a contrary opinion is invited to be spoken is a powerful argument that this William F Buckley Jr Program is badly needed over there.
To be so insulated she doesn’t even realize other points of view belong to people that wanted to feel at home as much as she does…
Dustin (7f67e8) — 9/8/2014 @ 11:10 am“Berliner”… so she’s a lefty AND a jelly donut?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 9/8/2014 @ 11:16 amSo, having someone give a speech that no one is required to listen to or even attend is now forcing views on others?
You’ve set the bar pretty low there, mr. gop.
Chuck Bartowski (11fb31) — 9/8/2014 @ 11:41 amjelly donuts aren’t even a sometimes food they’re just flat-out inimical to your becoming the kind of pikachu you want to be
jelly donuts do not have your best interests at heart
artisanal jelly donuts are ok though
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/8/2014 @ 12:23 pmThis is a super-productive thread y’all got going here. If your arms get tired, have the circle switch directions.
Leviticus (f9a067) — 9/8/2014 @ 1:10 pmThanks, man!
Dustin (7f67e8) — 9/8/2014 @ 1:22 pmCreme filled long johns, made by Mrs. Julian, a French Pastry Chef in a small midwestern town.
mg (31009b) — 9/8/2014 @ 1:27 pmhappyfeet, it was a bakery like no other.
And the jelly filled bismarks were to die for.
Leviticus, have you met Gil?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2014 @ 2:06 pmWhat makes you think this special snowflake is scared, or anticipates being uncomfortable? She has found that pretending this sort of angst in the face of speech she would prefer others not hear works. Microaggressions and triggers are both bullshit but the powers that be pretend to take them seriously in order to justify shutting down speech they think is insufficiently leftwing.
RA (f6d8de) — 9/8/2014 @ 2:19 pmnot that long ago, the Taliban’s spokesman was a student at Yale, I wonder if Miss Price was offended about that,
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/8/2014 @ 2:32 pm“Leviticus, have you met Gil?”
– daleyrocks
No. Why?
Leviticus (f9a067) — 9/8/2014 @ 2:59 pmThis is a super-productive thread y’all got going here. If your arms get tired, have the circle switch directions.
Well, sometimes we need a break from Obama’s incompetence and the War on Womyn that we are so successfully waging.
JVW (638245) — 9/8/2014 @ 3:02 pmRA has a good point. This person may not be concerned at all about feelings being hurt, but it’s just another dishonest salvo of disinformation, disruption, and subterfuge designed to undermine society little by little.
I remember the first communist I met in college. I thought he was as loony as could be for seriously believing what he claimed to believe. I guess he might have the last laugh after all, at least on this side of eternity.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/8/2014 @ 3:24 pmIt would be helpful to know something more about her. Is she a 1/2 Fluke, or a 10 Fluke. The World Wonders?
bobathome (5ccbd8) — 9/8/2014 @ 5:56 pm