KEVIN PAUL MCCAUGHEY

Even if one disagrees with someone else’s opinion, surely they should be allowed to express it, right? Sadly, on campus, this is not the case anymore. On the contrary, it is actually heresy.

“Racist!” “Sexist!” “Homophobe!” — These are the ready-made attacks in the holster of every social justice warrior, always ready to be deployed when any sniff of dissenting opinion reveals itself.

Today, this is what passes for argument. You have problems with Justin Trudeau’s cabinet being based on gender parity? Sexist. You think the policing of Halloween costumes has gotten out of control? Racist. You think even people with offensive opinions should be welcomed to express their views on campus? I’m triggered!

The University of Saskatchewan — like every other university in the world — has become an apoplectic orgy of left-wing groupthink where intellectual diversity exists only in name.

Universities at large have become meeting grounds where sixth-year liberal arts students rant and rave against speakers and faculty whom express any hint of an opinion that isn’t overtly politically correct. This has had dismal results.

Because of the ad hominem attacks like “racist” or “sexist,” students are now hesitant to say how they truly feel — and if someone does manage to break from this intellectual orthodoxy, they are bombarded with these atrocious attacks on character that completely shut down debate.

To accuse a person of racism or sexism is one of the most serious accusations someone can make, and despite these terms appearing often in common parlance, their meanings haven’t been diluted.

This is because these terms carry such significant weight that people won’t even question if something is racist or sexist — primarily because questioning if something is racist or sexist is now considered racist or sexist.

This shift in thinking has had an insidious consequence, one that has legitimized itself by perverting the word “toleration” and using it to justify intolerance.

By capitulating to the self-righteous student bodies, trigger warnings and other ludicrous measures, universities have now effectively become giant government-subsidized cocoons that shelter student’s minds from unorthodox opinions, all under the guise of protecting their safety.

This sacrifices the most sacred tenet of education — freedom of thought. If universities aren’t the places to hear unorthodox opinions, where is?

It’s no wonder that as soon as a controversial topic comes up, all we hear from the outraged are non-substantive, incoherent reactions. Controversial opinions are stated, offended brains short-circuit and all that gushes from the offended person’s mouth is a jumble of terms commonly found in any 100-level sociology textbook.

For example, in 2010, political pundit Ann Coulter had to cancel her talk at the University of Ottawa, all at the behest of a vocal minority of students. One student claimed that Coulter’s rhetoric would make marginalized groups feel “very unsafe and very uncomfortable.”

Oddly enough, however, Coulter withdrew from the talk because the likelihood of protesters inciting physical violence was so high — even compromising her actual safety. Depressingly, this irony does not register with students. Feelings now trump thought. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

So, what is the solution?

For starters, universities should stop coddling students and start exposing them to provocative, even offensive, ideas; but almost as important, universities need to restore the true meaning of the words tolerance and acceptance.

Currently, acceptance and tolerance are essentially empty buzzwords that serve as the reason to shut down debate and placate the perpetually outraged. As such, universities have failed their students and have made them ill-equipped to deal with life outside of the classroom.

In the age of trigger warnings, this is to be expected. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is an expression that has slipped into antiquity, along with the Confederate flag and beanie babies.

If there is ever a change in the collective student sentiment, this article won’t be sparking it — it’ll have to start within the university itself. Universities will have to grow a spine, quit the pampering, and embrace the liberal education that made Western civilization the greatest on earth.

How Eurocentric of me, right? I should have put a trigger warning.

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Image: Jeremy Britz / Graphics Editor