Victimhood U

Colleges went mad. They charge students big bucks and then make them feel guilty.

My new video looks at a new documentary called “

The Coddling of the American Mind.” It persuasively suggests that today, young people are anxious and depressed because “adults” at their schools brainwashed them.

Students like Lucy Kross Wallace at Stanford. “I was anxious,” she says. “I felt guilty constantly. I couldn’t stop thinking about the white privilege thing.”

Kimi Katiti attended The Art Institute of California and now says, “I feel like I lost my life for 6 years. I was full of self-confidence when I was 18. But in college, that disintegrated.”

Kimi, who is Black, was taught that she is a victim of “microaggressions” from white people who say things like, “You’re so articulate,” or, “Can I touch your hair?” “

I began to see myself through the lens of Black and a woman,” says Kimi. “If I see someone with their dog, for example, and the dog’s barking, I could interpret that as a racist microaggression.” This new perspective began shaping every part of her life. “

To compete and get the best grades,” she says, “I showed how much of a victim I was in order to impress my professors.”

She didn’t think that was right, but she didn’t push back. “

I thought, I’m paying a lot, so (they must be) teaching me golden rules for life.”

She learned that it was important to censor speech by conservatives. Kimi joined a Twitter mob demanding that Twitter block Ben Shapiro’s posts. “

I would sit down, all the way through the night” looking for tweets to report. When Twitter didn’t block Shapiro, she’d “try again, try again.”

At Stanford, Lucy was taught that Shapiro’s ideas put “Black, brown, trans, queer and Muslim students at risk.” “

My first thought was like, ‘This is extreme, ridiculous,’” but then she thought, “’You’re privileged, you’re white.’”

A good person, she was taught, “didn’t read too many books by white authors or listen to the ‘wrong’ kind of music. I was really torn on rap because I didn’t know if that was appropriation or appreciation.”

To be accepted, she changed the way she spoke. “

When I started to use the vocabulary ... ‘marginalized, intersectional, hegemonic, blah, blah, blah,’ people just smiled a little bit more, and I started feeling like I was part of an ingroup.”

A few years later, she decided she had made a mistake. “

This set of thought processes was unhealthy and making me miserable.”

Greg Lukianoff, co-author of the book “

The Coddling of the American Mind,” says “Administrators teach students ... that they can be permanently harmed by words. This is not a kind or compassionate thing to teach.”

The new censorship was supposed to help minorities, but minorities, too, are often punished.

In the documentary, Saeed Malami, a Nigerian student, talks about making a speech at a protest. “

I go up there, feeling all cool with myself. I was like, ‘Blackness is not a skin color. It’s an attitude to life. If you’re white, you can be Black. If you’re MAGNOLIA GAZETTE “ERROR OF OPINION MAY BE TOLERATED WHERE REASON IS LEFT FREE TO COMBAT IT” ...THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1801 LUCIUS LAMPTON, M.D., Editor-in-Chief MARK I. LAMPTON, Business Manager ALYCE SIMPSON, Managing Editor NANCY MORRIS, Office Manager, Osyka Reporter, Publisher’s Assistant GUY GELLER, Contributing Editor NANCY LEBLANC, Contributing Editor JAMES HARRIS, Contributing Editor DAVID MORRIS, Contributing Editor CARROLL CASE, Contributing Editor DWALIA SOUTH, M.D., North Miss. Correspondent MELISSA JOHNSON, Social Editor TOMMY COVINGTON, My Mixed-Up Files Editor STANLEY HARTNESS, M.D., Natchez Trace Correspondent SCOTT ANDERSON, M.D., Fine Arts Editor TOMMY YOUNG, Sports Photographer CHARLES W. “TREY” EMERSON, M.D., Poetry Editor LUCINDA LAMBTON, European Correspondent BENNETT SIMPSON, Digital Editor FREDERICK W. REIMERS, Outdoors Editor FORD DYE, M.D., Oxford Beat Writer TERRY JACKSON, City Editor JIM MCELWEE, County Editor JUDY CAUSEY LOVE, S.E. Alabama Contributing Editor MAC GORDON, SOWEGA Bureau Chief CRAWFORD D. LAMPTON, Gazette Photographer GARLAND D. LAMPTON, Gazette Autos Editor CATHERINE BROWN, Columnist BECKY NELMS CURRIE, Political Editor/Photographer (Ming Dynasty Cotillion Queen) IN MEMORIAM: Literary Ed. Richard C. Wood (1925-2014) Louis J. Lyell, Contributing Editor (1925-2023) Published by THE MAGNOLIA GAZETTE PUBLISHING CORPORATION on Thursday of every week at 280 Magnolia Street, Magnolia, Miss, 39652 Phone (601) 783-2441 Fax (601) 783-2091 Email address: magnoliagazette@bellsouth.net nancymgazette@gmail.com Office Hours: Mon., Tues., Wed. 9-5 Established December 7, 1872 by Captain J. D. Burke Periodical postage paid for at Magnolia, MS Post Office Member, Mississippi Press Association Member, National Newspaper Association Subscriptions: $25 in Pike, Amite & Walthall Counties, & Tangipahoa Parish $40 Elsewhere PUBLICATION POLICY All interested individuals are invited to submit letters, articles, opinions, cartoons, photos and other material of general interest to this publication. Submissions must be accompanied by a signature and bear the mailing address and phone number of the author. Letters to the editor will be edited for space and clarity, and the editor reserves the right to reject letters due to length, available space or libelous content. Deadline on all copy will be 12 noon Friday. The views expressed by the articles in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to 280 Magnolia Street, Magnolia, Mississippi 39652 web site: www.magnoliagazette.com VICTIMHOOD U by John Stossel Truth always wins by Daniel Gardner, Special to the Gazette Have you sensed a change? Remember the lead up to the 2024 election? Everybody was predicting how close it would be. Neck and Neck. Too close to call. Of course there were the usual claims and counterclaims, and fact checkers were canoodling to find just the right nuance to sway voters one way or another. Sixteen years ago Barack Obama declared, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” during a campaign speech in October. Americans have seen his vision and have decided to change directions. The 2024 election seems so far away now. Over the holidays people were saying, “Merry Christmas!” and Black, you can be purple or whatever ... ‘ What happened after that? A lot of people I thought I was tight with just stopped talking to me.”

So instead of saying, “I’m no victim,” Malami just shut up. “

What I thought to be true,” he says, “I will keep in my head, and say something else.”

This self-censorship not only stifles useful debate; it makes students unhappy.

Lucy says, “When I was a social justice advocate, I was tired, miserable, pessimistic.” “

Now that I’m out of that and I’m thinking for myself,” says Kimi, “I’m much happier. I’m at peace.” “

The Coddling of the American Mind” is a good introduction to how some of today’s schools harm students. You can find out how to watch the full documentary at thecoddlingmovie.com.