How Babies Are Made

In an article very much worth reading, The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf explained in detail both events. He notes that Yale’s students are “behaving more like Reddit parodies of ‘social-justice warriors’ than coherent activists.” 

Before Halloween, 13 faculty members at Yale circulated a letter about how students ought to and ought not dress for the holiday. Following that, Erika Christakis, a Yale Univeristy Lecturer, sent out a different email, intended to provoke thought in students. Instead, it incited outrage. So what was so horrible about the letter?

The the deferential letter stated to provide an alternative view on Halloween costumes—in short, that they might offend people at times, but maybe that’s okay, so long as it begins discussion. 

Christakis’ audacity to suggest people talk and think deeply is why hundreds of Yale students are demanding she and her husband resign from Yale.

Friedersdorf explains that at Yale, “every residential college has a ‘master’––a professor who lives in residence with their family, and is responsible for its academic, intellectual, and social life.” Christakis and her husband are “masters.” Students confronted Christakis’ husband, Nicholas.

It was this call for thoughtfulness that led students to say they can no longer bear to live at the college. Friedersdorf  reminds us that it is the same college with, “heated buildings with two Steinway grand pianos, an indoor basketball court, a courtyard with hammocks and picnic tables, a computer lab, a dance studio, a gym, a movie theater, a film-editing lab, billiard tables, an art gallery, and four music practice rooms.” 

A different student lamented, “I have had to watch my friends defend their right to this institution. This email and the subsequent reaction to it have interrupted their lives. I have friends who are not going to class, who are not doing their homework, who are losing sleep, who are skipping meals, and who are having breakdowns.” 

It is imperative nobody shows these frail young thought leaders the First Amendment—one fears it may do irreperable damage to their wellbeing. 

Another incident occurred this past weekend at a free speech conference at Yale. Greg Lukianoff, the president of an organization dedicated to preserving free speech and other rights on campus, FIRE, addressed students’ reactions to Christakis. “Looking at the reaction to Erika Christakis’s email, you would have thought someone wiped out an entire Indian village.”

This led to a student protest. Students chanted “Genocide is not a joke,” and some spat on attendees.

This brings to mind South Park’s P.C. Principal, and his tendency to overlook the big point while criticizing what he feels are evil, white priviledged analogies and diction. He would be proud of Yale’s students. 

Had students read Lukainoff’s work, they might have understood the irony of their actions. Friedersdorf  writes:

If one removes the eloquence and adult language from the words of Yale’s students, one sees a clear picture of a petulant child. Who else screams and protests when confronted with a benign idea that makes them the least bit uncomfortable? Children, however, have the excuse of being children and often not knowing any better. What excuse have these students? 

Considering the 13 faculty members’ need to advise students on how to dress properly and not offend on Halloween, the problem becomes obvious. 

There is no virtue in grown adults (biologically, at least) shielding themselves from the slightest amount of alternative thinking, nor is there virtue in those who shape these minds encouraging such behavior. To consider these students pay $48.000 every year to attend a top school so that they can become the great young thinkers of the next generations is laughable, when they can’t even be confronted with the idea of open thought. 

As Michael Moynihan tweeted,

Indeed.