In December, when they come out with the annual list of new words that people find the most annoying, 鈥渕icroaggression鈥� is going to be one of them for 2014. I just learned the word Wednesday and within an hour, I already hated it.
According to a national newspaper, microaggression 鈥渋s an increasingly common term on university campuses.鈥� When I was in university, students were concerned with a 鈥渕acroaggression鈥� that was going on at the time 鈥� the Vietnam War 鈥� and Patty Hearst was running around with her urban guerrilla comrades shouting: 鈥淒eath to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people.鈥�
Patty Hearst is now a 60-year-old widow, by the way, and the mood is different on campus. It鈥檚 scarier. Instead of protesting big, important stuff like war, today鈥檚 unbelievably prissy students are tattling to the authorities because their feelings have been hurt by others鈥� perfectly innocuous behaviour.
Thus, McGill University student Brian Farnan got rapped on the knuckles for the sin of microaggression because he reposted a video from the Tonight Show featuring, among other doctored video, President Barack Obama kicking a door open as he left a news conference.
It was all part of a joke Farnan was making about mid-term exams, and of the 22,000 people who saw Farnan鈥檚 posting, just one complained. However, as a brand new member of the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Offence, Farnan could only achieve absolution by agreeing to subject himself to sensitivity training and issuing an apology because he had 鈥渦nknowingly perpetuated鈥� the 鈥渓iving legacy鈥� of 鈥減eople of colour ... being portrayed as violent in contemporary culture.鈥�
Other examples of microaggression include a University of California professor who corrected spelling and grammar mistakes in minority students鈥� dissertations. If these students have reached a level of higher education where they are writing dissertations, there shouldn鈥檛 be any spelling and grammar mistakes in their work.
Apparently, however, for the prof to correct them was an insult to the students鈥� firm belief that since they belong to a minority, they should get through university without having their work criticized. They definitely sound like products of a public-school system that taught them they were special just for showing up and breathing every day.
Looks as if the cult of self-esteem, which has ruled the education system for many years now, is reaping what it has sowed. Correct a student鈥檚 paper and you鈥檝e insulted him or her and must apologize. I鈥檇 hate to be a professor these days.
However, I鈥檇 like to cash in on the trend, too. I鈥檇 like an apology from the professor who gave me a D in Meteorology 101 in my freshman year at university. The textbook should not have been so full of mathematical equations. Didn鈥檛 the prof know that I hate math? I鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 no statute of limitations on such a crime, but since I can鈥檛 remember his name, he might get away with it after all.
Still another example from McGill is a student complaining about 鈥済ender binary,鈥� on a survey which asked people to say whether they were male or female. Upon hearing the phrase 鈥済ender binary,鈥� the professor committed the cardinal sin of (gasp!) laughing. He was duly reported for being a very bad boy.
I鈥檓 sure I鈥檓 microaggressing when I say: 鈥淕ood for that prof for laughing. Long may he reign.鈥�
Joey Shea, vice-president of university affairs for the Students鈥� Society of McGill University, said of the Obama video episode: 鈥淭he fact that a complaint did come forward does prove that someone was harmed and did feel harm, and I think that there should be more apologies in society generally.鈥� She added that: 鈥淚 microaggress all the time. You microaggress all the time.鈥�
A McGill website defines micro-aggression as 鈥渟exism, heteropatriarchy, transphobia, classism, racism, ableism.鈥� Heteropatriarchy? That must mean anything said by a straight male. Soon, just being born a straight male could be a crime in itself.
I admit I鈥檓 suffering from an unableism. I am unable to comprehend how things on campus ever sank to this level of stupidity.
But I think if everyone just duct-tapes their mouth shut, that should solve the problem.
