Two scholars responsible for the prevalence of the neologism “microaggression” told The Chronicle of Higher Education they’re sorry for how their research has been misused to end conversations. A microaggression is a minor, unintentional, yet nonetheless punishable offense in liberal social circles whereby supposedly privileged individuals unknowingly slight somebody else. Many college campuses have systems in place that allow aggrieved students to report microaggressions anonymously, avoiding any interaction with the offending party.
But the original intention was to educate, not punish, unenlightened microaggressors, says Derald Wing Sue. The professor at Columbia Teachers College edited Microaggressions and Marginality, a collection of essays and studies published in 2010 that’s since gone on to guide the policing of interactions at workplaces and schools. Here’s the Chronicle:
One of Sue’s particularly popular set of charts, “Microaggressions in Every Day Life”, instructs that the idea of the American “melting pot” is a hurtful affront to multiculturalism and that an ethic of meritocracy carries the message, “People of color are lazy.”
Christina M. Capodilupo, who contributed to the set of charts, says she’s “humbled” by the reach of the research, but is concerned about how it is being used. “It was never meant to give a vernacular that then makes it OK to stop talking,” she said.
Writing recently in The Atlantic, Greg Lukianoff at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and Jonathan Haidt charge that an academic culture which fears microaggressions now insists on trigger warnings with censorship and thought control.
