Students of Color Conference turns into ‘oppression Olympics,’ leads to fights, canceled sessions (enemies, identities)

[residinghere2007]

I reviewed the entire op-ed piece that this source is based upon and found it odd that they focused on one paragraph of that op-ed (in regards to the issue with the "Oppression Olympics") instead of highlighting the fact that the author stated the truth - that it is better to frame these issues in a debate, that "safe spaces" are useless in solving problems, and that all sides of the political and ethnic/racial spectrum always surround themselves with people who agree with them and don't even consider other people's views/opinions and just want someone to feel sorry for them.

FWIW, I personally felt this media outlet of the OP did the same thing - it is a conservative media site that wants to frame the narratives of how idiotic minorities are, when just the other day there was a similar media site complaining about how white people would be victims based on the title of a class. People always want to have some sort of "Oppression Olympics" against each other. I think I know every Irish poster by name on this board lol.

If anyone is interested, here's the op-ed. The main point I took from it is below:

After attending a few more of these safe spaces, it’s clear they are necessary for all students, regardless of political affiliation. However, while we all need a place to vent and share how we feel, safe spaces are limiting, and we students need to acknowledge how they fail to reconcile political divisions. Instead, the student body needs to conduct constructive debates with guidelines that invite people to respectfully argue their different viewpoints and opinions.
People naturally gravitate toward settings and groups that favor their backgrounds and beliefs, and it’s mistaken to label safe spaces as a purely liberal concept.


Earlier this month, Bruin Republicans Internal Vice President Julia Nista suggested their club can serve as a place for conservative students who find it difficult to share their opinions without facing attacks from students or faculty who disagree with them. In other words, their club is a safe space.

Personally, I think "safe spaces" are dumb and are just for people to complain amongst people who share their complaints. It is silly IMO and solves no problems.

One of my favorite quotes:

A certain hard common sense in facing the complicated phenomena of political life must be expected over every progressive people. In some respects, we as a nation seem to lack this; we have the somewhat inchoate idea that we are not destined to be harassed with great social questions, and that even if we are, and fail to answer them, the fault is with the question and not with us. Consequently we often congratulate ourselves more on getting rid of a problem than on solving it. Such an attitude is dangerous; we have and shall have, as other peoples have had, critical, momentous, and pressing questions to answer. The riddle of the Sphinx may be postponed, it may be evasively answered now; sometime it must be fully answered.

W.E.B DuBois.

[chadgates]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

I reviewed the entire op-ed piece that this source is based upon and found it odd that they focused on one paragraph of that op-ed (in regards to the issue with the "Oppression Olympics") instead of highlighting the fact that the author stated the truth - that it is better to frame these issues in a debate, that "safe spaces" are useless in solving problems, and that all sides of the political and ethnic/racial spectrum always surround themselves with people who agree with them and don't even consider other people's views/opinions and just want someone to feel sorry for them.

FWIW, I personally felt this media outlet of the OP did the same thing - it is a conservative media site that wants to frame the narratives of how idiotic minorities are, when just the other day there was a similar media site complaining about how white people would be victims based on the title of a class. People always want to have some sort of "Oppression Olympics" against each other. I think I know every Irish poster by name on this board lol.

If anyone is interested, here's the op-ed. The main point I took from it is below:

Personally, I think "safe spaces" are dumb and are just for people to complain amongst people who share their complaints. It is silly IMO and solves no problems.

One of my favorite quotes:

W.E.B DuBois.

That's cool how you dug deep and found the real meaning of the story.

I do have one question though.

Were there actually cancelled sessions because some people were "traumatized" or not??

[dechatelet]

If the kiddies have time for this stuff instead of cracking their books and studying, then they're wasting California taxpayers' money.

[uggabugga]

lmao.
'I'm the victim!'

'No, I'M the victim!!'
<slapfight ensues>

sounds like my two year old toddler.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by chadgates

That's cool how you dug deep and found the real meaning of the story.

I do have one question though.

Were there actually cancelled sessions because some people were "traumatized" or not??

There is no reference to any sessions being cancelled. Also, the link to the op-ed is directly in the OP's link at the conservative site. Usually whenever a media site references an event or another source, they will provide a link to said source or recount of the event. I do this for every media story I read on the internet to get a better idea of what actually occurred before I make a conclusion.

Here is what the op-ed wrote about the conference:

Another example of safe spaces gone wrong was the 2016 Students of Color Conference held earlier this month, which hundreds of University of California students attended, including some of UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council representatives. According to their mission statement, SOCC’s major goal was to “create a space to discuss, dissect, and create relevant solutions to issues surrounding students of color.” However, the conference eventually turned into a kind of “oppression Olympics,” where students argued over which minority group was oppressed the most rather than finding solidarity and understanding amongst each other.


In essence, groups from both sides of the political spectrum have arranged their own safe spaces which have proven to be biased bubbles of ineffective discussion that lack respectability and open-mindedness. From excessive political correctness to downright toxicity, these spaces do not encourage students to engage in mature dialogue that could actually present solutions to their issues. It is important for participants to understand how to conduct themselves, while still being able to respectfully argue with others.

There was no mention of any cancelled sessions. The author mentioned that all groups of students have created their own "safe spaces" regardless of race, ethncity, or political affiliation. And the author concluded that if students actually want to work out their problems, they should hold structured debates with guidelines in order to give students the opportunities to present their ideas and work out whatever issues they can work out. IMO some issues just cannot be worked out so people just will have to agree to disagree at some point.

[dechatelet]

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Heh.

Regressive left eating itself.

So many possibilities when you think about it.....

People of color claiming to be more oppressed than gays "because we can't hide what we are."

Lesbian feminists choosing not to work with gay men "because you're men."

Male-to-female transgenders not being welcomed at a women's retreat because "you weren't born a woman."

Jews in the same room as Muslims -- hmm, don't even want to think about that....

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by lilyflower3191981

I enjoyed meeting all kinds of different people from all over the world, and dorm parties when I was there (UCLA)

I was born in 1985 and I don't think we had something like this before.

I'm 1982 and I KNOW we didn't have things of this level back in the early 2000s.

Of course, there were always the crazy sociology kids and feminist/sociology professors hawking these concepts of oppression and identity politics... but this has become almost an industry now.

[ottomobeale]

Everyone at that university should feel traumatized for having to pay for this stupidity.

We need to redo college to emphasize bachelors degrees provided by the county community college but reads as "university of state" top 12 or so stand alone bachelors degrees. No dumb courses. Mission statement to read, "This college focus is to provide a bachelors degree in high demand employer fields"

Personal fulfillment is great. That is called hobbies. For oppression groups they can have meetup.com groups that dont cost 50K a year.

[njquestions]

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

I reviewed the entire op-ed piece that this source is based upon and found it odd that they focused on one paragraph of that op-ed (in regards to the issue with the "Oppression Olympics") instead of highlighting the fact that the author stated the truth - that it is better to frame these issues in a debate, that "safe spaces" are useless in solving problems, and that all sides of the political and ethnic/racial spectrum always surround themselves with people who agree with them and don't even consider other people's views/opinions and just want someone to feel sorry for them.

Fascinating how this guy is like "why, I just discovered that the college Republican club wants a safe space!" and then congratulates himself with a quote from W.E.B. DeBois. Yeah, except there's a difference. Liberals want a safe space that is free from any differing opinions. They own the entire college campus, they propagandize their beliefs in classes by professors, you get poor grades if you don't ape the party line ...and yet they still go berserk if they even hear one person say something they don't like. In contrast, the Republican club is in that same environment and simply wants to be able to discuss their beliefs, which is the opposite of wanting to stifle and suppress dissent.


So, yeah, they're actually not the same. But then again, anyone who even spent a casual minute examining the issue would know that. Except his agenda is to try to justify the crazed lunacy of the snowflakes on the left.

[Fifty Seven]

Originally Posted by No_Recess

Sooooo...what kind of refreshments did they serve at the conference?

Crackers.