Microaggressions: the left wing’s social candy. Supposedly, it’s a massive list of phrases and words that the Left think might be culturally insensitive and obstacles to inclusion and diversity. I’ll be more blunt—the whole concept is pure crap. Anything can be a microaggression, and anything can be considered a triggering action as a result. In all, it’s just a way for the progressive left to stifle and smother speech that they don’t like. Of course, racist language is not what we’re talking about here. We all know those horrible words, but saying, “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” is now somehow offensive? Yeah—it’s come to this, folks. Yet, a new study on phrases like this has seemingly undercut the whole microaggression narrative that’s prevalent on college campuses (via The Atlantic) [emphasis mine]:
Consider a widely circulated educational sheet, derived from an academic text, that seems to have originated in the UC system before being circulated at UC Santa Cruz, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, the court system of Philadelphia, and beyond. It lists what it calls examples of “racial microaggressions” that “communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons.”
The following statements are included:
- “You speak good English.”
- “When I look at you I don’t see color.”
- “America is a melting pot.”
- “America is the land of opportunity.”
- “Everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough.”
[…]
The Cato/YouGov survey on free speech and tolerance that I reported on last week included questions about whether folks find the same sentiments expressed above offensive.
Among the results?
Telling a recent immigrant, “you speak good English” was deemed “not offensive” by 77 percent of Latinos; saying “I don’t notice people’s race” was deemed “not offensive” by 71 percent of African Americans and 80 percent of Latinos; saying “America is a melting pot” was deemed not offensive by 77 percent of African Americans and 70 percent of Latinos; saying “America is the land of opportunity” was deemed “not offensive” by 93 percent of African Americans and 89 percent of Latinos; and saying “everyone can succeed in this society if they work hard enough” was deemed “not offensive” by 89 percent of Latinos and 77 percent of African Americans.
None of this is offensive. Apparently, the Asians were a bit harder to poll; no data was available. Makes sense, as a member of the club, if I got a phone call about a study—I would simply hang up. The point is just saying things that are true are not offensive. Maybe the Left can actually embrace that this is a country that affords many opportunities to people instead of ways to destroy language to satisfy a political goal.
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