I listened to the Haidt lecture at Columbia University - https://youtu.be/3b3Ob4CK4Xs
He talks about “ mollycoddling” and “safteyism”
as a bad thing - and that Universities should be a place of free speech.
My view
It is very difficult to have free speech if there is hate speech - against a particular group - or not being able to feel “safe” about sharing your ideas .
I wonder how he would feel if he was “bullied” and ostracised because of the colour of his skin , or what he believed ?
“Walking on eggshells” is ok - maybe spend more time thinking of what you are going to say if it’s going to offend someone else - is not a bad thing !
He talks about the increase of anxiety and depression as a result of social media (a massive campus) - social media is a place where there is free speech - and as a result - increased depression and anxiety - through bullying and feeling of inadequacy - specifically by females .
He seems to be contradicting himself (in a very articulate way!!
He makes good Points
- of people being more resilient as a result of adversity
- And your body being more tolerant to peanuts if exposed to “bumyum”
- and children being more resilient if exposed to danger
- people become less resilient to things that they are not exposed to
I do believe that I would rather be in an environment where I can feel “safe” about sharing my ideas - not based on what I look like or believe - but based on the validity of the idea.
I agree - you need to feel challenged - your ideologies need to be challenged - and it’s not healthy to be in a space where you do not have to agree with everything - BUT you need to feel safe going into an adversarial situation
I loved when he said - if someone builds a circle to exclude - build a bigger circle to include !
Just saying
We had an outstanding “Yarning circle” forum where we talked about the importance of the creation of a “safe space” in the workplace …. The stories of 3 amazingly articulate humans -
Felipe Abade, Celia Sandhya Daniels and Samantha Webster followed by a Thinktank .
Feel free to listen
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5cS6e3EmL5RLPv45bdV-uw3g-KH5Ydky
Would love your feedback
Ps - I loved the last 2 minute snippet of his talk -