# When people babble about "microaggressions", their real goal is censorship. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 13, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455 "2015-06-13T19:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/101 "2015-06-14T05:02:24Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Or perhaps it’s because not all insults are the same, as you so adequately pointed out with your admittedly “extreme” example. So in other words, mildly racists comments are OK, as long as the N word is not used. Is there really anything left to say between you and I? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/102 "2015-06-14T05:09:45Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > straw man is a serious false attribution of intent. Really? Says who? And who is the arbiter, in a debate, of seriousness? Your definition lets anyone off the hook by a simple declaration of “oh, but I was only joking”. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/103 "2015-06-14T05:09:58Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Peer pressure is often the only thing that can be done legally. We’re all doing it to each other here. The SDMB Mods aren’t going to kick any of us out for our differing views. We’re left with no other power to use against each other than remonstrance. If peer pressure were enough, the problem(s) wouldn’t exist, would it? (Do you follow my logic?) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/104 "2015-06-14T05:14:48Z")
Not once have I said that they’re ok. Not once. So since you refuse to debate what I’m actually saying, then no, there isn’t really anything left to be said between us. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/105 "2015-06-14T05:18:12Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Not once have I said that they’re ok. Not once. So since you refuse to debate what I’m actually saying, then no, there isn’t really anything left to be said between us. So what is the difference between not doing anything about a problem and thinking it is ok. I mean, in terms of results. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/106 "2015-06-14T06:36:46Z")
Micro aggression is the next logical step in devaluing claims of actual bad behavior. Similar to calling everything under the sun racism, sexist, or some other bullshit for no reason, it weakens claims of actual bad behavior in a race to become the latest victim. Mockery is what is called for. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/107 "2015-06-14T06:40:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Really? Says who? And who is the arbiter, in a debate, of seriousness? > > Your definition lets anyone off the hook by a simple declaration of “oh, but I was only joking”. Rush Limbaugh uses that excuse all the time…and then goes right on making serious accusations. It’s like many other aesthetic distinctions: only you can make the decision. Where does erotic art stop and pornography begin? The fact that no one can define the boundaries doesn’t prove that the two are the same. You’re falling into the logical error of “drawing the line.” Exactly how many hairs may a man have on his head and still be accounted a “bald man?” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/108 "2015-06-14T06:42:24Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > If peer pressure were enough, the problem(s) wouldn’t exist, would it? (Do you follow my logic?) True. And thus, the problem will probably always exist, or at least as long as freedom of speech exists. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/109 "2015-06-14T06:49:34Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > So in other words, mildly racists comments are OK, as long as the N word is not used. Is there really anything left to say between you and I? Your attempts to paraphrase or restate another’s position are really poor, dude. Like terribly bad. So bad they seem disconnected from anything at all, much less reality. Just, the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/110 "2015-06-14T06:52:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Really? Says who? And who is the arbiter, in a debate, of seriousness? > > Your definition lets anyone off the hook by a simple declaration of “oh, but I was only joking”. You’re being too literal here. Mockery is not a strawman argument. That was what LhoD was engaged in. Who decides? The reader does. And since he explicitly said he wasn’t seriously attributing an argument to ITR that wasn’t made it’s easy enough to take it at face value. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/111 "2015-06-14T11:07:05Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > You’re being too literal here. Mockery is not a strawman argument. That was what LhoD was engaged in. Who decides? The reader does. And since he explicitly said he wasn’t seriously attributing an argument to ITR that wasn’t made it’s easy enough to take it at face value. It’s also easy to take it at face value because I talked about students with pitchforks and torches. The idea that I was seriously attributing fears of being impaled by a three-pronged farm tool to ITR is beyond ludicrous. It’s heartening, I guess, that this is the strongest opposition John can make to what I say–just as it’s heartening that ITR’s response is to say, confronted with the absurdity of blaming today’s college students for violence by referencing decades-old splashes, that technically it falls under the legal definition of violence. Fuck that technical legal definition. It was a terrible description of what happened, and I believe you know that. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/112 "2015-06-14T11:27:32Z")
I agree with the title of the thread. Today’s college campus libs and progressives are not interested in free speech, only approved speech. We approve of what you say, then you can say it. If not we will shut you down any way possible. This whole micro aggression bullshit is just another way to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/113 "2015-06-14T11:32:32Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > I agree with the title of the thread. > > Today’s college campus libs and progressives are not interested in free speech, only approved speech. We approve of what you say, then you can say it. If not we will shut you down any way possible. The main problem here is with your attribution of the phenomenon to liberals. [The real offenses are perpetrated by powerful Republicans](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article11341625.html). > [@](#): > > As nearby protesters chanted slogans about freedom and democracy, the UNC Board of Governors voted Friday to close three university-based centers as part of a sweeping review of institutes across public campuses in North Carolina. > > The decision was condemned by faculty members, who called it an attack on academic freedom and a blow to the university system’s national reputation. The three centers focus on poverty, the environment and voter engagement; the leader of one of the centers, a well-known liberal, has been a vocal critic of the state’s Republican leadership. The UNC board members are almost all Republicans. Or take [this example](http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/new-politics-at-the-university-of-north-carolina): > [@](#): > > On January 16th, Tom Ross, the president of the University of North Carolina, and John Fennebresque, the chair of its board of governors, held a press conference to announce that the board had asked for and received Ross’s resignation. > … > In response to a series of questions, Fennebresque insisted that the decision was not about politics, at least not “to the best of my knowledge.” Few observers believed that there was not some political motivation. Ross, a former judge, once headed the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a major funder of progressive causes in North Carolina. Since Republicans, many of them affiliated with the Tea Party movement, took over the North Carolina General Assembly in 2010, the board of governors has become a Republican redoubt. I know about these ones because they’re in my state. I certainly hope that my state’s Republicans are way shittier than Republicans elsewhere, that this sort of attempt to shut down critics and to stifle academic freedom is only happening here. I’m not much of an optimist. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/114 "2015-06-14T11:38:08Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > This whole micro aggression bullshit is just another way to do so. So you think objecting to the following examples is “bullshit”: “You are a credit to your race.” “Wow! How did you become so good in math?” A White man or woman clutches his/her purse or checks wallet as a Black or Latino person approaches. A store owner following a customer of color around the store. Someone crosses to the other side of the street to avoid a person of color. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/115 "2015-06-14T12:05:43Z")
Continuing the theme of “you’re after the wrong assholes,” look at [Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert](http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/06/07/conway-pride-parade-provokes-tantrum-by-sen-jason-raper) of Arkansas: > [@Rapert](#): > > This parade against Christian values may indeed happen again for the 12th time on a Sunday in Conway, but I object to it ever again being held on the Sabbath Day again. It is one thing to proclaim you are a homosexual and demand attention to yourself, but it is quite another for homosexual activists to cross the line and accuse Christians of being “bigots” and that their belief that homosexuality is sin is “hate speech”. > I urge everyone to contact the Conway City Council and Mayor Tab Townsell and tell them that you oppose them for allowing activists to march through the streets of Conway on a Sunday to purposely mock Christian values and accuse Christians of being bigots. Lest someone point out that state senators are always crazy motherfuckers, let me remind you: so are college students. The difference is that state senators have some actual power. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/116 "2015-06-14T12:33:14Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > So you think objecting to the following examples is “bullshit”: > . It’s a long list. Some things on it are offensive, some are annoying, some are understandable preconceptions, some are idiotic and some are bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/117 "2015-06-14T12:38:49Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > It’s a long list. Some things on it are offensive, some are annoying, some are understandable preconceptions, some are idiotic and some are bullshit. I agree that some/many of the examples are hard to comprehend/agree with, but, I still try to be sensitive and aware of issues that people say bother/offend them. There are people who see racism “behind every corner” but it’s not really my place, I think, to determine which complaints are valid and which are not. I’m not saying I approve of people exaggerating claims of racism, I’m just more focused on the claims that I feel are valid, which, I feel are the majority of the claims. In other words, to focus on a few outlying examples when there is so much that is legitimately offensive is really an indication that people want to try to dismiss the issue as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/118 "2015-06-14T12:55:59Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The main problem here is with your attribution of the phenomenon to liberals. [The real offenses are perpetrated by powerful Republicans](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article11341625.html). All of the situations I read of the college campus speech police are situations of libs/progressives shutting down conservatives. My apologies **Left Hand** on not keeping up with the news concerning North Carolina college campus’s and was not aware of the examples you speak of. To me free speech applies to all and the ones who not like it, on the right or the left, can choose to walk away and not hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/119 "2015-06-14T14:09:19Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > All of the situations I read of the college campus speech police are situations of libs/progressives shutting down conservatives. It’s important to note that the “speech police” you’re talking about have no actual power, and don’t actually succeed in shutting down conservatives. The reason that’s what you read about is because it’s especially faddish to attack college kids now, and it props up the stupid narrative of college kids threatening free speech, a narrative that’s been ongoing for at least a quarter century. The real threats to free speech on campus don’t come from undergrads. They come from legislators. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455/120 "2015-06-14T14:10:38Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > I still try to be sensitive and aware of issues that people say bother/offend them. Isn’t that basically all we can do? Most of these issues come from people being ignorant about what some ‘category of other’ find offensive. Usually just because they haven’t had any social intercourse with them before. The ‘purse clutching’ category is hurtful but what can you do? _Charge_ the woman that crosses the street, when a man approaches? With what? With being afraid? Actually, we do seem to live in a society that seems to have grown more afraid, and of more things, than before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-people-babble-about-microaggressions-their-real-goal-is-censorship/722455.md?page=7)