When visiting colleges, you’ll notice that there are certain buzzwords that get thrown around a lot by admissions officers and tour guides.
“Inviting, welcoming, diverse, rigorous, student leadership.”
If you’re ever bored, write them down in rows and play bingo with your parents.
One term, however, makes me wince every time it’s said: “social justice.”
It’s an odd word to wince at, to be sure. It’s almost like finding freedom of speech and religious tolerance concepts that should be avoided in polite company.
Nevertheless, the discussion of “social justice” has worked its way into my list of taboos, along with religion, politics and money.
This is because when a college admissions officer tells me that their students are dedicated to social justice, I almost always know what they mean.
While two or three out of every 10 “social justice warriors” may dedicate their free time to noble causes such as volunteerism and other altruistic endeavors, most are fighting the good fight from behind their laptops.
They will usually have a Tumblr (a popular blog site) in which they will catalogue the various ways they are victimized by society.
In a very (very) small percentage of cases, the legitimate problems that exist between genders, races and sexual preferences in our society will be addressed.
However, most of the rhetoric spewing from these new-age soapboxes is about how horrible it is that the new “Disney” princess is white and that her very existence is the worst thing to happen to women’s rights in the past century.
The core tenet of these communities is the checking of “privilege.”
“Privilege” is the social status by which people are sorted by race, sexual preference, gender and other social statistics to see who is allowed to have a voice in the current discourse.
The irony is, apparently, lost on them.
As a white, heterosexual male, my privilege-o-meter is off the charts. Thus, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), my opinions on the matter will never be considered.
After all, how can they retain their reputations of being open-minded if they let just anyone speak his mind?
Just keep walking on those eggshells and be quiet, because if you say something, someone, somewhere will be offended.
But, hey, I’ve been told I’m 1/256 Native American, so at least I have that going for me.
