Micro-Aggression and Cancel Culture

Written by Robert W Malone MD, MS on April 21, 2023. Posted in Current News

Cancel culture is rapidly evolving and expanding throughout society, like some single-stranded RNA virus – with no checks to its genome, another mind virus which has inserted itself into a new host population

Combine this phenomenon with the weaponized offensive accusations of “micro-aggression” and the two together are just the latest examples of how sensitive those of a certain political leaning have become to any and all perceived slights.

The situation has gotten so extreme that for people of a certain gender or color, simply being accused of committing an act of micro-aggression puts them at a risk of losing their livelihood. This is particularly true in academia.

I find it all very disturbing.

As a man with roots from the deep south, I often slip into referring to people that I am addressing as “sir” and “ma’am.” This is how I was raised.

Frankly, I sometimes slip up and say “yes, ma’am,” which is what my mother would want me to say. For me, this is a sign of respect. Just as “yes, sir” is a sign of respect. It is something I can’t turn off easily, as I was raised with this being how to show respect.

So, the fact that a man calling a group of women “ladies,” seems pretty benign to me. Personally, I have been known to refer to men as gentlemen. I certainly don’t view using these words as a micro-aggression. But evidently in the minds of some, it is just that.

Former Principal Loses Superintendent Job For Calling Women ‘Ladies’

The Epoch Times, April 12, 2023

The use of the word “ladies” in addressing two female officials caused a Massachusetts school board to rescind a job offer for superintendent to the district’s former principal—igniting social media backlash, street rallies, a recall petition, and even death threats.

“Shame on the school committee for participating in cancel culture!” wrote the Easthampton Education Association in a Facebook post slamming the decision to recant the job offer to Vito Perrone, who currently serves as an interim superintendent at the nearby West Springfield schools.

Perrone announced publicly that the board had rescinded their offer in an executive session because he had committed a “microaggression” by sending an email to the Easthampton School Committee Chair Cynthia Kwiecinski and the committee’s Executive Assistant Suzanne Colby in which he addressed them with the greeting as “Dear Ladies.”

The exact definition of micro-aggression – per the front page of google:

Of course, there is nothing on the front page of google to suggest that the usage of the word “micro-aggression,” might in of itself be a micro-aggression. But frankly, it is, isn’t it?

According to the definition above, the word micro-aggressions has now been expanded to include all “non-physical aggression.” So, why not just use the word aggression?

This new concept of micro (microscopic) aggressions being a thing is clearly something that we should all come to know and understand, so that we don’t commit anything that might be construed as such <insert sarcasm emoji>.

But maybe this new idea of micro-aggression doesn’t have anything to do with micro-aggression or even aggression, but everything to do with those of a certain political leaning controlling the narrative.

Could the outraged cry of “MICRO-AGGRESSION!” just be another type of “MICRO-OPPRESSION” (or maybe even oppression) by those of that political leaning?

Back in 2015, Thomas Sowell wrote an essay on just this subject.

The Left’s ‘Microaggression’ Obsession Is Indicative of Its Micro-totalitarian Tendencies

National Review by Thomas Sowell, June 16, 2015

Professors at the University of California at Berkeley have been officially warned against saying such things as “America is the land of opportunity.” Why? Because this is considered to be an act of “microaggression” against minorities and women. Supposedly it shows that you don’t take their grievances seriously and are therefore guilty of being aggressive toward them, even if only on a micro scale.

You might think that this is just another crazy idea from Berkeley. But the same concept appears in a report from the flagship campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana. If you just sit in a room where all the people are white, you are considered to be guilty of “microaggression” against people who are not white, who will supposedly feel uncomfortable when they enter such a room.

“Microaggression” protests have spread to campuses from coast to coast — that is, from California’s Berkeley and UCLA to Harvard and Fordham on the East Coast, and including Oberlin and Illinois in the Midwest.

Academic administrators have all too often taken the well-worn path of least resistance, by regarding the most trivial, or even silly, claims of victimhood with great seriousness, even when that involved undermining faculty members held in high esteem by most of their students and by their professional colleagues on campus and beyond.

Word games are just one of the ways of silencing politically incorrect ideas, instead of debating them.

The concept of “microaggression” is just one of many tactics used to stifle differences of opinion by declaring some opinions to be “hate speech,” instead of debating those differences in a marketplace of ideas. To accuse people of aggression for not marching in lockstep with political correctness is to set the stage for justifying real aggression against them.

To me, the most amazing thing is that almost a decade after the word micro-aggression entered the American consciousness, it is still being weaponized to take down individuals or even organizations that people of that certain political leaning deem not progressive enough.

Take the example last month, of when a visiting federal judge at Stanford University was attacked at a Federalist Club forum by outside student agitators. Protestors refused to let him speak because he was perceived to be “anti-trans,” due of a ruling he made in 2020.

This is the ruling where the judge would not allow a man, who had been in prison for eight years for child pornography, to officially change his pronoun. Ergo the judge was judged as being anti-trans. This action singled out this judge as being the biggest micro-agressor these protestors could think of.

THEIR aggression was amplified by an associate dean with oversight responsibility for the forum, who was at the event and was supposed to be monitoring it. Heck, she even joined in the fray. Micro-aggression meets aggression.

Last week, professional swimmer Riley Gaines was violently attacked at San Francisco State University because she stood up for women in professional sports. The response of the University was as follows:

Following the mayhem, Jamillah Moore, vice president for Student Affairs & Enrollment Management, emailed students thanking them for taking part in the event.

“It took tremendous bravery to stand in a challenging space,” Moore wrote. “I am proud of the moments where we listened and asked insightful questions.”

“I am also proud of the moments when our students demonstrated the value of free speech and the right to protest peacefully,” she added.

After the statement was tweeted out, Gaines thundered: “I’m sorry did this just say PEACEFUL…. I was assaulted. I was extorted and held for ransom.”

These examples prove the point that way back in 2015, Dr. Sewell was right in his analysis.

Those of that certain political leaning, and in particular transgender activists, are using the idea of alleged past micro-aggressions to justify an aggressive response, even violence.

This is not acceptable in a civilized society.

Let’s stop with the nonsense and get back to being sensible.

Let’s not, as a society, tolerate the weaponization of words aimed to oppress one side over the other. Let’s stop these micro-OPPRESSIONS and get back to the idea that we don’t have to all share the same ideology, but we do have to follow the rule of law.

Claims of micro-slights by those who wish to control the narrative are actively seeking to constrain the Overton window of acceptable discourse by restricting free speech and people’s ability to earn a living. This is not ok.

After all, if a word has the preface “micro” attached to it, how important can it be?

See more here substack.com

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