Uncocooned students
The University of Buckingham in the UK is bucking the trend by leaving the ‘safe space’ comfort zone.
Safe space and its close relative ‘no-platforming’ is constricting debate on university campuses. This problem has been growing in recent years where speakers with a controversial or even unfashionable view have been refused permission to speak on said campuses, for fear of offending others.
The move, by Buckingham University, led to them setting up a free speech society after Peter Hitchens, a columnist with the Mail on Sunday, was no-platformed by the University of Portsmouth because his conservative views would clash with LGBT events on the campus.
Does the LGBT community have a majority say? What about the people that wanted to hear Peter Hitchens and were offended by LGBT events. Who’s right and who’s wrong?
I enclose a quote by Richard Dawkins from 2015 when Germaine Greer was prevented from giving a talk on transgendered women.
A university is not a “safe space”. If you need a safe space, leave, go home, hug your teddy & suck your thumb until ready for university.
Universities are places for students to be exposed to different views. They prepare students for the rigours of ‘real-life’ which will include views different to their own ‘homespun’ views.
If people are being asked to accept LGBT views against their own personal beliefs, why should not the LGBT community be asked to accept Peter Hitchens beliefs? Is one group really afraid of one man?
I appreciate that the LGBT community has fought long and hard for recognition, but they cannot be wrapped in cotton wool forever. The strength of their commitment can only be tested by hearing and debating other people’s views, quite possibly, controversial views.
I don’t want to single out the LGBT community but they were the group mentioned in the original report (Times, Saturday 23rd November 2019).
Look to the ‘snowflake’ generation. They are offended by anything outside of their prejudices. Their prejudices which they have never questioned or been questioned on.
We need to remove the ‘safe space’ barriers, encourage students and other young people to step beyond their comfort zone and experience tolerance.
Carl Sagan (1934–1996, science communicator) had this to say:
“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let them live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
Our civilisation has enough to worry about without worrying about how some of us have sex.