Cal Says “Micro-Aggressions” Like “Melting Pot” Could Offend
The United States has always prided itself on being the place where millions of people from around the world travel unbelievable distances just to have a better chance at success for themselves and their families. However, the University of California has recently decided that describing such facts could be “triggering” to some minorities, and has therefore instructed its professors to cease using the phrases “melting pot” and “land of opportunity.”
The newest training guide for Cal states that these phrases are “micro-aggressions”: unintended forms of discrimination. It adds that the expressions are interpreted by minorities as “denying the significance of a person of color’s racial/ethnic experience and history” and that they “assimilate to the dominant culture.” The guide is said to be taught to professors as a way of moving toward so-called “inclusive excellence.”
One former UCLA professor, Tim Groseclose, said that he asked a former leftist colleague if he was ever concerned that he could be punished for a similar ridiculous offense. According to Groseclose, the professor’s solution was simple: “I just try to minimize my contact with other humans.”
University of California Office of the President spokeswoman Shelly Meron said the university had not banned the words, insisting that the university system was “committed to upholding, encouraging and preserving academic freedom and the free flow of ideas.”
The fact is that while these terms may not be explicitly banned, the notions that the college is promoting equate to a de facto muzzling of speech. While these very specific phrases may not seem to be of much importance, one is left to wonder what other words could end up on the same blacklist (of course, not to suggest that a list is inherently bad merely because it is black). If these seemingly benevolent terms, which all have likely heard hundreds of times, are deemed to be offensive, what could be next?
If professors are put into a position where certain fairly “ordinary” phrases are not permitted, it not only hinders their teaching abilities; it has the same effect on the learning abilities of their students. Suddenly, the best professors are unable to communicate to pupils an education for which those young men and women (and transgender students, and any other possible gender or sexual identifying students) have paid handsomely.
Furthermore, Cal is legitimizing the ludicrous and radical concept of “micro-aggressions” in bowing to a vocal and minuscule minority (not that there is anything wrong with minorities) of the population. When these “social justice warriors” attempt to create a kind of totalitarianism over how we interact, there is much more bravery in calling them out for their delusions than in caving and appeasing.
Perhaps most ironically, the phrases which have been attacked are meant to promote inclusion. The view of the United States as a “melting pot” and “land of opportunity” is perhaps one of the most idealistic and egalitarian observations that our country has.
As a “melting pot,” it doesn’t matter from which country someone comes; one can become an “American” if that person so wishes. Our culture has incorporated influence from each generation that has entered into the country. Those changes can be seen in our food, clothing, language and nearly anywhere else we look.
The status of the country as a “land of opportunity” is much the same. Unlike in other countries, where advancement is only possible with connections to rulers, the capitalist system upon which our country was founded allows for upward mobility contingent upon hard work and with no regard toward one’s past history.
If Cal wishes to pursue “inclusive excellence,” the college ought to know that it is not worth sacrificing the latter for the former. Accordingly, it is imprudent to bend to the wills of those with whom there can be no reasoning.
