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Our culture of dignity is vanishing
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier ^ | November 8, 2015 | Dennis Clayson

Posted on 11/08/2015 1:57:51 PM PST by campg

We are in the midst of a cultural collapse. One of the indicators is a phenomena called “mircoaggression.” Most people have never heard of the term, but its applications are taken for granted at most American universities.

Microaggression is a phrase used to refer to a variety of verbal and nonverbal forms of communication that could be said to show disrespect for a particular group of people, especially those who have encountered historical discrimination, and which now includes any group the liberal establishment has classified as victims.

The implications of the paradigm behind the term should not be minimized. We cannot use masculine pronouns because that could be seen as microaggression against women. Asking someone where they are from is macroaggression because white males may be asked that question less frequently. Referring to a group as “ladies and gentlemen” could be seen as microaggression against transsexuals. A “walk-only zone” on a street could offend and marginalize people in wheelchairs.

Wearing a Halloween costume from an ethnic group cannot be seen positively; it only identifies the costume-wearer as an ignorant privileged person who doesn’t realize how offensive this could be to a member of a victimized group.

Microaggression doesn’t need to be deliberate. It is nevertheless evil because over time a pattern of microaggression could harm members of marginalized groups by reminding them of their victimized status.

Note portraying white males as stupid in sitcoms and ads is not “microaggression.”

Last year, Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning published a paper in a sociology journal. Their work suggests we are leaving a moral culture that was superior in many ways to the ones that preceded it, and we are now moving into a new moral culture that is, essentially, a step back into the past.

The thesis is this: Two hundred years ago, Western societies moved away from cultures of honor in which people had to earn, avenge and defend their honor. There were intergenerational feuds, duals and perceived slights that would lead to violence. This was replaced by a culture in which people were assumed to have dignity and didn’t need to earn it. Major violations were turned over to courts or other administrative bodies. Minor insults and slights were either ignored or an attempt was made to resolve them through social norms. If fact, people were encouraged to see another’s point of view and not to whine about minor insults. The authors called this a culture of dignity.

The paper claims the culture of dignity is being replaced by a new “culture of victimhood” in which people find the slightest violation, even unintentional ones, as a major offense in much the same manner as in the rejected culture of honor. There is, however, a major difference. Instead of handling the situation directly, the offended person is encouraged to appeal for help from powerful outsiders and make the case they have been victimized. It becomes advantageous for people to identify themselves as helpless and put-upon victims.

Critics of Campbell and Manning's moral theory get caught in an interesting tautology. They maintain the theory is incorrect because it looks at the history of the dominant moral culture, which is a classic case of critics who live in a glass house throwing rocks.

Collapse of a dominant culture has implications far beyond the immediately obvious. The economist Steven Horwitz maintains Americans are increasingly expecting adult supervision. The idea of microaggression encourages people to see themselves as victims and to find an external “adult” to resolve any and every slight. That “adult” is most often associated with an increasingly powerful central government that issues ever more complex and intrusive rules and demands for proper behavior and thought.

In many ways, the hypersensitivity found at many universities is not a pathway to a more moral culture, but a road into a regressive, illiberal world where the powerful tell us how, what and when to think.


TOPICS: Education; History; Society
KEYWORDS: culture; politicalcorrectnes; victims
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Finally we have a genuine authentic candidate who decries victimhood and refuses to succumb. He is the poster child of American Exceptionalism, Dr. Ben Carson. The MSM and the Democrats have only begun to destroy him.
1 posted on 11/08/2015 1:57:51 PM PST by campg
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To: campg

Basically, we’re returning to the War of the Roses. Which didn’t work out well for either party.


2 posted on 11/08/2015 2:00:39 PM PST by miss marmelstein (I support Trump but refuse to engage in the lynching of Ben Carson.)
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To: campg

I agree with the premise of this article but the reasoning is dog-dirt stupid.


3 posted on 11/08/2015 2:09:01 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
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To: campg

Wow. I’m a walking microaggression generating machine.


4 posted on 11/08/2015 2:11:00 PM PST by subterfuge (TED CRUZ FOR POTUS!)
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To: campg

[[Our culture of dignity is vanishing]]

Someone should make a movie of this called “Gone with the wind”


5 posted on 11/08/2015 2:12:00 PM PST by Bob434
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Microaggression is a phrase used to refer to a variety of verbal and nonverbal forms of communication that could be said to show disrespect for a particular group of people, especially those who have encountered historical discrimination. This of coarse is the direct result Of politcal correctness that is now protected by laws written by the liberal skunks who created it and dorected specifically at white Americans


6 posted on 11/08/2015 2:14:03 PM PST by ronnie raygun (better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.)
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To: campg

Great article! But if Ben Carson wrote it, why is his name not in the “author” space? If he did not write the article, why do you give him credit as though he did? Signed, Confused Conservative.


7 posted on 11/08/2015 2:22:20 PM PST by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: campg

Who comes up with these crap words: microaggression!

Sticks and stones....


8 posted on 11/08/2015 2:22:57 PM PST by Aria
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
I agree with you....the reasoning doesn't fit the reality...which is our “culture” as Americans, One nation under God is no longer respected nor adhered to. In fact fought against and opposed...not only by it's so called citizens, but by the many foreign entities now using their political mindset to make America into something it's not. And this for the worse.

When you take out of the very fabric of this country the Judeo-Christian foundations , worse that these fought against, opposed and our history no longer taught... then you can be certain “something else” will fill that void rapidly for the base has and is being eroded.....

Political Correctness, Racism, Islamic-phobia....all these left buzz words are simply “ the little foxes that spoil the vine”....deliberate and intentional to not only change the face of this nation but destroy it, the freedoms enjoyed and the prosperity once available for those freedoms. (Under God).

The victim-hood minority movements and protests are simply the evidence of a dying nation..not the cause...the cause is the lack of will and heart of patriots who love this country to act to change it and sufficiently oppose it all....much because there are no longer enough of us to “organize” with any effectiveness other than blow horns. .....................................An election alone will not change the trajectory if the peoples hearts and minds have forgotten 'who' has given this nation and it's freedoms in the first place......

9 posted on 11/08/2015 2:26:55 PM PST by caww
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To: campg

Microaggresion is a lie. It doesn’t exist. When it is accused, the accusers are wrong - they are literally making it up, lying about its meaning and application, and lying about its effect on them. They are not harmed in any way, and they know it. Its purpose is to politically silence dissent against totalitarianism, on pain of personal destruction at the hands of gangs. Microaggresion is legalized hate speech.


10 posted on 11/08/2015 2:27:16 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: campg

Just as the left wants.


11 posted on 11/08/2015 2:28:28 PM PST by TBP (with the wrong hand)
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To: ronnie raygun

Of course calling any particular behavior “microaggression” is in itself potentially microaggressive. Because microaggressive people are by themselves an aggrieved class. Who knows what life experiences and indeed, privileges they may have had growing up or even in their recent past. Maybe they are just having a bad day. Of course, “having a bad day” is in itself racist because it casts doubt on Barack Hussein 0bama’s transformation of America into a land where people of all races and genders, or both, can get along and work together. Because for too long, this has been all our responsibility and it is time we, or some of us, were held accountable.

Meanwhile, people who call other people “microaggressive” or accuse others of microaggressions are also a priveleged class, having been granted a brand new term, “microaggression” for use in their attempts to belittle others. I find microaggression to lie somewhere between milliaggressive and picoaggressive and thus the term covers an awful lot of ground. 6 orders of magnitude, to be exact. I apologize if precision is in itself a microaggression. However, I would not criticize anyone who decided to jump into the pool, as it were, because braindeadedness is a virtue. It’s in fact a millikardashianism.


12 posted on 11/08/2015 2:32:09 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
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To: campg

Stop using their made up terms.

There is no such thing as a “microaggression”.


13 posted on 11/08/2015 2:32:24 PM PST by Red in Blue PA (war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, obama loves America)
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To: caww

There is no discussing the deterioration of our culture without pointing out the exponentially escalating criminality and immunity from consequence our supposed leaders enjoy. This is their new and yet fondest aspiration: To reap the rewards of escalating and virtually unlimited criminality while in office.


14 posted on 11/08/2015 2:35:00 PM PST by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
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To: campg

Completely off topic and it was Trump who first came of fighting the stupid PC garbage.


15 posted on 11/08/2015 2:43:38 PM PST by nopardons
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder
Geez...that sounds more like what the US is always accusing Russia of....we have our own Oligarchs doing exactly the same...


16 posted on 11/08/2015 3:17:46 PM PST by caww
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To: campg

As we all well know, the US Media simply CANNOT allow any black man speaking ‘Traditional” values to gain traction among blacks, nationally.

The Democrat Plantation needs them to believe they are VICTIMS, with no hope other than to vote for the White Deocrat Overseer.

How soon until Gloria Alred shows up with the “Where Be Da White Women’s At!!” allegations against Carson, like she did in 2012??


17 posted on 11/08/2015 3:27:28 PM PST by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: campg
Microaggression is a phrase used to refer to a variety of verbal and nonverbal forms of communication that could be said to show disrespect for a particular group of people...microaggression is one of a series of terms including racist, offended, and biased used to inflict emotional extortion on others, to manipulate and intimidate anyone with whom the user disagrees into a position of disadvantage rather than to engage in objective and open dialogue about the real differences involved - usually invoked when the user knows that his argument is weak and probably unwinnable......
18 posted on 11/08/2015 3:46:09 PM PST by Intolerant in NJ
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To: ronnie raygun

Why can’t we do what they do and say that this whole thing is just calling out and being racist against white straight men? You know how they say saying “ethnic” or “inner city” or “urban” is racist against blacks? If they can get away with that, why can’t we say “microagression” is a racist term against the one group that is the new whipping child: white straight males?


19 posted on 11/08/2015 6:41:33 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: Yaelle

And if they showed black or Hispanic men on tv as husbands and fathers even half as stupid, fat, and lazy as they show the straight white men for the past 30 years, everyone would scream racist.


20 posted on 11/08/2015 6:43:46 PM PST by Yaelle
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