Slashdot Mirror


John Cleese Warns Campus Political Correctness Leading Towards 1984 (washingtonexaminer.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Ashe Schow writes at the Washington Examiner that, "The Monty Python co-founder, in a video for Internet forum Big Think, railed against the current wave of hypersensitivity on college campuses, saying he has been warned against performing on campuses. "[Psychiatrist Robin Skynner] said: 'If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior,'" Cleese said. "And when you're around super-sensitive people, you cannot relax and be spontaneous because you have no idea what's going to upset them next." Cleese said that it's one thing to be "mean" to "people who are not able to look after themselves very well," but it was another to take it to "the point where any kind of criticism of any individual or group could be labeled cruel." Cleese added that "comedy is critical," and if society starts telling people "we mustn't criticize or offend them," then humor goes out the window. "With humor goes a sense of proportion," Cleese said. "And then, as far as I'm concerned, you're living in 1984." Cleese is just the latest comedian to lecture college students about being so sensitive.

9 of 669 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What are the babies going to do in the real wor by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1, Troll

    Living as a coddled adult-child in your parent's basement until you are 27 is like being a plant that for some reason got covered up by a piece of yard furniture that you discover when you move the lawn chair. It's pale and wilted and you wonder if it will grow up if you expose it to the sunlight that it's been denied.

    Except we are here talking about a life form that has been deliberately coddled, and that has preened and finely tuned it's sensitivity to normal amounts of sunlight, and considers it's pale whiteness and lack of growth to be a good thing.

    To the last question, yes, they are planning on living in their parents' basement forever. To the degree that they've ever planned anything at all.

  2. Re:Mizzou by NotDrWho · · Score: 0, Troll

    Rule #1 when dealing with a SJW protest: Never apologize or resign when you've done nothing wrong.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  3. Re:Obligatory by Rei · · Score: -1, Troll

    Whether a standup comedian comes across as offensive or not is really simple. If it seems to an audience member that they might actually believe what they're saying about a group, then they come across as offensive. If it's clear to the audience member that they don't, then it doesn't.

    If John Cleese has a problem with people consistently interpreting him as offensive, then he should probably brush up on his material and/or delivery. Seriously, comedians whining about their audiences? If John Cleese doesn't like being criticized over his act, then I think he should take a lesson from the famous John Cleese: you're being too sensitive if you find any criticism of yourself to be cruel.

    --
    It's times like this I wish I had a friend named 'The Professor'.
  4. Re:Most of the collage kids these days a whiny bab by Rei · · Score: -1, Troll

    How do you know that they didn't really mean collage kids?

    Pretty funny hearing someone whine about others not being able to behave like functioning adults when said individual can't even write like a functioning adult - including the phrase "functioning adult". ;) Also amusing hearing someone whine about others whining too much.

    --
    It's times like this I wish I had a friend named 'The Professor'.
  5. Re:Cleese: "London is no longer an English city." by Rei · · Score: -1, Troll

    There are large neighborhoods in London now that are effectively under Sharia Law (not that you'll hear anything about it in the SJW controlled media).

    I think we've hit peak right-wing here.

    --
    It's times like this I wish I had a friend named 'The Professor'.
  6. Re:And the next time you see a Code of Conduct by AmiMoJo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Can you name a major FOSS project that wants to turn itself into a safe space? As far as I know the only ones were either set up specifically for a small group to collaborate on or were obvious 4chan trolls.

    Things like the Open Code of Conduct don't see to create a safe space. They just seek to create a civil one, where diverse people can cooperate. Unless you want to create an echo chamber for people who like trolling (i.e. 8chan), you are going to have to agree to some kind of code of conduct and I really don't see anything particularly controversial in any of the ones adopted by FOSS.

    Can you cite a specific issue in a specific project?

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  7. Re:Obligatory by AmiMoJo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Since when have we reached the point where you aren't allowed to annoy or offend people?

    Since the invention of the Social Justice Warrior. When someone calls someone else an SJW, what they mean is "I find your speech offensive/annoying and want you to shut up". It's usually in response to someone criticising them.

    The solution is to stop trying to shut down other people's criticisms and instead respond to them. Don't call them an SJW in the hope that others pile in and down-mod/insult them. State why you disagree, and be prepared to stand by your argument or change it.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  8. Re:Obligatory by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 0, Troll

    "I am an individual, and I will answer for no crime I have not committed. I will not feel guilty because of my assigned gender at birth. I will not feel guilty because women do not choose programming careers, because I am not the gaslighting asshole managers people like you keep mistaking me for who is chasing women out of tech. I will not feel guilty about rape, because I am not a rapist. I will not feel guilty about sexual harassment, because I do not sexually harass."

    No, you have to feel guilty about all those things because you are white, and male, and therefore have Privilege. This type of racial discrimination is the SJW way of combatting racism.

  9. Re:Obligatory by reboot246 · · Score: -1, Troll

    And worst of all, they typically vote Democrat.

    You can mod this down if you want, but seriously, conservative kids aren't like that at all. They may get offended, but they don't pitch a fit about it like a two year old. Home-schooled kids are even better behaved. And both groups of kids have valid reasons to be offended by the way the culture has gone in this country. They just don't cry and whine about it, and they damned sure don't try to silence people they disagree with (like some on college campuses do).