It started at Emory University. It's moved to the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. Colleges all around the nation are experiencing a growing new phenomenon. Some call it "The Chalkening" on social media. It's chalk, and I'm here to talk about it.
Much like the dark, the boogey man, and Gremlins, chalk has cast a dark shadow over our Universities across America. It appears as quickly as it's removed. You can't put it in jail, you can't detain it, or search it and it's terrifying students all oooook ... I can't do this.
This is an article for college students that need "safe spaces." For all of you who feel "threatened" by "Trump 2016" written in powder. For context, I do not support Donald Trump. I do not like Donald Trump. Even as a conservative I will tell you, I'd vote for Bernie Sanders and put my faith in checks and balances before I'd place a vote for Trump. So why? Why am I about to rip your "safe spaces" and your "feelings" to pieces? Why am I about to decry and condemn your anti-Trump beliefs? Because what I do support, what I do believe in, are your rights as an American. Your freedom to be as racist, ignorant, and flawed as you choose to be. Why? Because for better or for worse, that's freedom, and above all else, I believe in that.
You Are In College
Maybe you missed Geography, which by this point would not really amaze me, but if you haven't looked at a map lately this news might shock you more than throwing a toaster in the tub, you live in America. The land you stand on was founded, fought for, and has evolved around the idea that men and women deserve to be free. You claim that these pro-Trump chalk drawings are infringing on your freedoms? You demand the installation of safe spaces, the resignation of leaders, based on what? That you disagree with them? Realize something. You are not oppressed. Your rights aren't being harmed. Demanding that people shape their thoughts, actions, and policies to yours is the first chapter in "How To Be An Intolerant, Ignorant, Idiot: A How-To Guide For Idiots". What you fail to realize is that you're trying to trade one intolerant, bigoted society for another. You don't have fire hoses blasting you at a peaceful protest. No one is turning dogs on you or beating you with billy clubs, this isn't the 1960s. Those protesters actually made a stand. They actually believed in something. Demanding people not speak their minds, express their opinions and feelings is the very fascist thinking you accuse Donald Trump of. You are not in college to prove how right you are about your beliefs. You are not in college to narrow your mind and reject new ideas. You are in college to confront new ideas, expand the depth of your thoughts on the world and the way it works. You don't like that your university doesn't condemn people utilizing their rights? Transfer. Do you want to go somewhere where everyone believes the same thing?! A paradise where you never have to confront new ideas?! Weeeellllllll come on doooooowwwwwwn!! We have the perfect place for you! The Democratic People's Republic of Korea ...
Safe Spaces
My grandfather had a safe space back in the day. It was a foxhole in Italy. One of my friends had a pretty neat safe space, it was behind a 50. caliber gun in a humvee unit. I've got a buddy whose safe space was in a metal tube hundreds, if not thousands, of feet below the sea. There are kids whose safe spaces are living rooms with bullet holes in the wall. There are people whose safe space is underneath a cardboard box in an alley. You want a safe space? Life is full of harsh realities and I'm about to give you one; the world is not a safe place. That's a fact. You want to isolate yourself and your feelings that's fine you do you. What I'm not fine with? Demanding I keep quiet so that you're not offended. You can kick a whole lotta rocks on another campus because I will not be quiet. I hope that you see the irony in demanding respect for your views without doling out a single ounce of it to anyone else. Seriously, you think "Trump 2016" compares to a Swastika? Really? You think your struggles compare? Watch this video and tell me how you can possibly relate. Your life is so hard.
Understand that the world around you does not exist to fit the mold you want to build for it. Understand that the world does not exist to make you or I comfortable. If you don't want to support Donald Trump, cool. We're in the same boat. When you attempt to prevent other Americans from supporting who they want? That's when I'm pushing you out of my boat. Grow up. Be an American and support the ideals and rights that we are blessed to have in this country and realize that once you leave your tiny, intolerant little bubble, that chalk is pretty far down on the list of things you should be scared of.
