RE: Frankenstein's Monster, Social Justice & Higher Education
I am predicting a massive, tidal-wave level backlash against all of this. You can call me a cockeyed optimist if you like, but we can already see the way the public has turned against these places like Mizzou and Evergreen, as enrollment at both continues to plummet, as do alumni donations. What is really weird is that these social justice hothouse flowers are truly living in a bubble that no logic or opposition can penetrate, unaware that now the entire world is watching them, judging them. And the youngest generation (younger than current college age) is more conservative than the Millennials by far and I predict they will turn against all of this.
Also, I had a bone to pick with your lumping Gen X in with the Boomers - "Boomers have raised similarly-minded GenXers." No no no no no. No way. I am Gen X and we are the anti-Boomers. We were the cynical generation that got really sick of the hippies and their holier than thou causes, their preaching about how unique and enlightened their generation is, more than any other before or since, blah blah blah. We are the survivor generation, the ones who were neglected as children, who grew up in a recession, not a boom, and who became cynical and looked out for ourselves in a tough world. The Millennials take after the Boomers much more than we do. The late Boomers are the parents of the Millennials and taught them that you always have to find something to protest and stand up for your rights! (even if your rights aren't being compromised.)
Yes, there were a few of these people starting in my generation. The earliest Boomers were starting to have kids in my generation, but those were the outliers. When I was at Berkeley as an undergrad (believe it or not!) in the late 80s/early 90s there was already conflict between a much more conservative student body and the "Holdover Hippies" of the town of Berkeley who had settled there in the 1960s and never left. Sure, there was a small group of wannabe hippies in my class, and guess what? I was one of them. I came to Berkeley thinking "Finally someplace where I can experience what the 1960s were like and not feel so heartbroken that I missed them!" But I quickly saw the extremes of the Left and my time at Berkeley, more than any other factor in my life, transformed me from a far Left liberal to a centrist Liberal. Yes, I still call myself a Liberal. I am a Classical Liberal, the kind who want free speech, open discussion, freedom of expression, let all viewpoints be aired, if we disagree than let's debate it logically, etc. The kind from the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, which would now be considered tantamount to a Nazi group by the SJW crowd. And one who embraces capitalism. I believe in a free market, both of goods and services and of ideas. I also believe in a social safety net for our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly and the destitute.
Agreed. @clemdane.
You make a good point, of course not all of Gen X are on the SJ bandwagon. I have to say though, I spent almost 20 years in the university environment, all the way through the post-doc phase, and as a member of Gen X born in the early 70s, my similarly aged peers were for the most part very much on the social justice train, though we didn't call it that back in the early 2000s when we entered university. And that is where my commentary about people largely believing the rights movements had achieved its goals comes in - as was pretty much my opinion at the time. But the rhetoric of oppression and the necessity of the rights movement was still very much in play.
It is worth considering that the early Gen Xers (Gen X is typically described as born between the early 60s and the early 80s) are now in their mid 50s and have been professors for the last 10 to 15 years. This means they likely have first-hand experience of the rights movement as young children. Replete with their parents' narratives of why social justice is necessary. I would contend the complete spiraling out of control has come under their watch. Of course the Boomers very much laid the groundwork for what we see right now.
Every Gen Xer I know acknowledges the financial straits the Boomer bequeathed us, but as to a backlash against their social policies... especially among the older members of our cohort, I just don't see it. Younger members of the cohort are more divided on the issue and as the contemporary social justice movement escalates its juggernaut-lemming rush for the cliff, are turning against it. Gen X may be the generation that makes social justice peak and then is still around long enough to clean up the mess in the upper hierarchy. I am fallible of course, so maybe there is something I am missing.
You make another good point when you mention that the free speech movement of the hippies would be "considered tantamount" to Nazis today, but that only serves to underline my contention that the foundational rhetoric laid by the Boomers and the perpetuation of it by the Gen Xers has spiralled out of control. I don't know if you read the link to the Galland article or not, but he does a good job of showing how this ideology has evolved over time.
And fortunately it appears the backlash has begun. I threw in a caveat to the text to account for your concerns.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! I really appreciate it when people take the time to consider my arguments, even when they don't agree. It is this exchange of the mind that I find challenging, exhilarating and hopefully helps me achieve a greater state of clarity on the issues of the day (not to mention make me a better person). Cheers!