The Latest Bit of PC Madness: Universities Urged to Place Warnings Re Contents on Literary Classics

After all, an unsuspecting student could plunge into a book or play without realizing that what lay ahead were instances of the unacceptable (racism, homophobia, ableism, etc., etc., etc.,), and possibly be scarred for life:

At Oberlin College in Ohio, a draft guide was circulated that would have asked professors to put trigger warnings in their syllabuses. The guide said they should flag anything that might “disrupt a student’s learning” and “cause trauma,” including anything that would suggest the inferiority of anyone who is transgender (a form of discrimination known as cissexism) or who uses a wheelchair (or ableism). 

“Be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other issues of privilege and oppression,” the guide said. “Realize that all forms of violence are traumatic, and that your students have lives before and outside your classroom, experiences you may not expect or understand.” For example, it said, while “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe — a novel set in colonial-era Nigeria — is a “triumph of literature that everyone in the world should read,” it could “trigger readers who have experienced racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence, suicide and more.”

It could?

Quelle horreur!


Warning: This book contains scenes of violence,
anti-Semitism, classism and Capitalistic
self-indulgence run amuck.