I find it interesting that there are two such opposite extremes out there now. There is the true insane extreme-coddling you describe, and the opposite where people go out of their way to be offensive and *reinforce* stereotypes. Strange divergence. (As for "the field," like you, I always thought it was harmless; I associated it with field trips, literally going to the field for nature research and such, transplanted into social sciences. I never associated it with slavery and highly doubt that's part of the origins of “working in the field.” But [cough] I work in a different field.)
I must admit that I didn't really understand this whole phenomenon until I read the article, and I am aghast that this is going on. I think that perhaps, it stems (to a degree) in the way (some) children (apparently) are raised today -- coddling them, rather than fostering resilience. It's very different from social practices in Israel.
But it also brings me to bring up my own pet peeve, which is the current use of the word 'challenge.' It seems like everything (appropriately or otherwise) is a 'challenge' today. In many cases it's being used as a euphemism for problem, difficulty, issue, or even (I saw this in print in a professional journal) instead of outrage. So the problem isn't unique to the issue of 'microagressions,' but something broader in society.
I find it interesting that there are two such opposite extremes out there now. There is the true insane extreme-coddling you describe, and the opposite where people go out of their way to be offensive and *reinforce* stereotypes. Strange divergence. (As for "the field," like you, I always thought it was harmless; I associated it with field trips, literally going to the field for nature research and such, transplanted into social sciences. I never associated it with slavery and highly doubt that's part of the origins of “working in the field.” But [cough] I work in a different field.)
I must admit that I didn't really understand this whole phenomenon until I read the article, and I am aghast that this is going on. I think that perhaps, it stems (to a degree) in the way (some) children (apparently) are raised today -- coddling them, rather than fostering resilience. It's very different from social practices in Israel.
But it also brings me to bring up my own pet peeve, which is the current use of the word 'challenge.' It seems like everything (appropriately or otherwise) is a 'challenge' today. In many cases it's being used as a euphemism for problem, difficulty, issue, or even (I saw this in print in a professional journal) instead of outrage. So the problem isn't unique to the issue of 'microagressions,' but something broader in society.