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RE: Frankenstein's Monster, Social Justice & Higher Education

in #education7 years ago (edited)

You make a good point, of course not all of Gen X are on the SJ bandwagon. I have to say though, I spent almost 20 years in the university environment, all the way through the post-doc phase, and as a member of Gen X born in the early 70s, my similarly aged peers were for the most part very much on the social justice train, though we didn't call it that back in the early 2000s when we entered university. And that is where my commentary about people largely believing the rights movements had achieved its goals comes in - as was pretty much my opinion at the time. But the rhetoric of oppression and the necessity of the rights movement was still very much in play.

It is worth considering that the early Gen Xers (Gen X is typically described as born between the early 60s and the early 80s) are now in their mid 50s and have been professors for the last 10 to 15 years. This means they likely have first-hand experience of the rights movement as young children. Replete with their parents' narratives of why social justice is necessary. I would contend the complete spiraling out of control has come under their watch. Of course the Boomers very much laid the groundwork for what we see right now.

Every Gen Xer I know acknowledges the financial straits the Boomer bequeathed us, but as to a backlash against their social policies... especially among the older members of our cohort, I just don't see it. Younger members of the cohort are more divided on the issue and as the contemporary social justice movement escalates its juggernaut-lemming rush for the cliff, are turning against it. Gen X may be the generation that makes social justice peak and then is still around long enough to clean up the mess in the upper hierarchy. I am fallible of course, so maybe there is something I am missing.

You make another good point when you mention that the free speech movement of the hippies would be "considered tantamount" to Nazis today, but that only serves to underline my contention that the foundational rhetoric laid by the Boomers and the perpetuation of it by the Gen Xers has spiralled out of control. I don't know if you read the link to the Galland article or not, but he does a good job of showing how this ideology has evolved over time.

And fortunately it appears the backlash has begun. I threw in a caveat to the text to account for your concerns.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! I really appreciate it when people take the time to consider my arguments, even when they don't agree. It is this exchange of the mind that I find challenging, exhilarating and hopefully helps me achieve a greater state of clarity on the issues of the day (not to mention make me a better person). Cheers!

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