(Note: This is obviously not intended for every single liberal, but is still worthreading if we are to make a cultural shift.)
When the group in power/majority holds a strong prejudice against a minority group and can exert that will to silence the minority, this is a severe problem. This is the problem in today’s classrooms, where conservative students are suppressed and bullied into silence.
Coming to Western, I knew I was coming into a pretty liberal college. When I was first beginning to think about college, this excited me. I was a pretty entrenched liberal, so I know the way that liberals view conservatives, and it isn’t kindly. However, my views have since shifted. Personally, I wouldn’t even identify as a "conservative." At People Press, they have a political typology test which ranges from Solid Liberal on the left, to Steadfast Conservative on the right. I got the most centric option that leans right, the “Young Outsider” group, a group with mixed conservative and liberal views that tend to lean slightly right (take the test yourself here). This was enough to have me labeled a “right-wing nut” in the eyes of some people in discussion based classes. Being a “conservative” at a very liberal college (which tends to be most of them) is essentially an extremely watered-down version of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; as long as you don’t mention your non-liberal beliefs, no one will attack you on a personal level and you won’t be socially ostracized.
You can find countless stories online, or by asking around your campus, of people with non-left wing views feeling extremely suppressed in the classroom. I probed further to find others who feel the same way I do. One user online reported, “I can't begin to tell you how many [sic] republicans keep their mouth shut in class for fear of being bombarded from all sides.” It seems to be the general rule, rather than the exception, that people who lean right do not feel comfortable in their classes expressing their views. A lot of this also has to do with professors, who overwhelmingly are liberal (<10% identify as conservative), not creating an atmosphere of open discussion and playing moderator, but rather joining the students in, subtly or not, beating down those who disagree. A professor at UCSB even physically assaulted students for protesting for a pro-life cause (both UCSB and the professor have yet to apologize).
In my honors class my freshman year, I was in an extremely, extremely left-wing class with only one other person who had right-ish leaning views. That class is where I learned the main way people who disagree with the far-left get treated: you get made out to be a monster. For example, being against the $15 minimum wage doesn’t mean I have concern for the economy’s ability to survive such a violent shock or for inflation; it means I hate/don’t understand poor people (despite the fact that I qualify for the absolute highest tier of the State Need grant). If I think that we do, in fact, have a lot of resources for common mental health problems on campus, I hate/don’t understand people with depression (despite the fact that I struggled with depression for three years). If I’m against Affirmative Action, it means that I’m either a white-supremacist or hate/don’t understand minorities (despite the fact that I AM a minority who was probably helped by Affirmative Action). This sort of group-think that Millennial Republicans are monsters full of hate for groups different from them is turning Liberals into a group full of hate for a group different from them is terrifying irony. This is part of what drove me away from the left-wing.
Liberals, you normally pride yourselves on being extremely tolerant. On the surface, it seems to be true. You are the ones who don’t hate LGBTQ people, minorities, women, and other oppressed people groups. But that doesn’t make you tolerant. You agree with the opinion that gay people should be legally granted marriage (as do I), and you agree that we need more inclusion and tolerance for oppressed minority groups. Agreeing with others who agree with you isn’t tolerance. Tolerance is defined as “the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.” In that sense, many of my Democratic classmates have become, in the pursuit of tolerance, extremely intolerant to “the existence of opinions [they do] not necessarily agree with.” Because of this, there isn’t any debate to be had. Commonly, non-Liberal students are reduced to just remaining silent rather than having their voice heard and then hear the discussion became a long, extended circle of everyone else indirectly calling whoever it was a bigot or a monster instead of arguing the actual points being made.
It’s entirely fine for people to have different opinions and disagree, as any political spectrum will necessitate that. However, in the atmosphere and environment of the modern college campus, it goes beyond that. When the group in power/majority holds a strong prejudice against a minority group and can exert that will to silence the minority, we reach the problem in today’s classrooms, where conservative students are suppressed and bullied into silence. So, instead of silencing dissenting voices, listen, understand, and debate them. Become the Party of Tolerance again.
We all aren’t thrilled with the choices the GOP is providing us.
No, we’re not all voting for Donald Trump.
No, we’re not racist/sexist/misogynist.
No, we’re not monsters.
We’re people, just like you.
We just disagree with you, sometimes, on some things.
And that’s OK.
Right?
