Week 9 Reading: The coddling of the American Mind

Skyly
Oct 30, 2018
3 min read

A word itself does not have emotional, but in the historical and cultural process, it has some specific emotion meanings, especially in a language context. If it will hurt people's self-esteem and emotions, we need careful avoid them. Therefore, when traveling in a location, we should understand the history and culture of the piece of land, and don't touch to be an unintentional error.

If concept and production of the history, literary and art, students feel uncomfortable or be hurt by them, students can have their own right to think so, but may also trigger more similar reactions to the other students. In fact, step by step, students will be more sensitive to a history true, escaping history and reality. Students will always be in the greenhouse. Students can choose not to take the courses which make them uncomfortable.

The teachers had a chilling effect on their teaching. Teaching is rigorous, but excessive sensitivity allows teachers to avoid the essence of history and literature. It is opposite to the education. However, here has the problem which is the standard of the “essence.” Intentional attacks or objective statements. Deliberately hurt dignity, or describe dissatisfaction with reality. Also, the language has the mood and tone. People can read the purpose. Thomas Jefferson, the founding the University of Virginia, said:

This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.

Finally, everyone is different and unique, from different local, education, economic, cultural background. We live in a world full of potential conflict. How to communicate and collaborate, and also all having professional development. It needs insight and wisdom. We all need to learn from knowledgeable books, research articles and especially learn from society. It needs psychology and cognitive behavioral theory.

The quotes below are from the website:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

Common Cognitive Distortions

A partial list from Robert L. Leahy, Stephen J. F. Holland, and Lata K. McGinn’s Treatment Plans and Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders (2012).

1. Mind reading. You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts. “He thinks I’m a loser.”

2. Fortune-telling. You predict the future negatively: things will get worse, or there is danger ahead. “I’ll fail that exam,” or “I won’t get the job.”

3. Catastrophizing. You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won’t be able to stand it. “It would be terrible if I failed.”

4. Labeling. You assign global negative traits to yourself and others. “I’m undesirable,” or “He’s a rotten person.”

5. Discounting positives. You claim that the positive things you or others do are trivial. “That’s what wives are supposed to do—so it doesn’t count when she’s nice to me,” or “Those successes were easy, so they don’t matter.”

6. Negative filtering. You focus almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom notice the positives. “Look at all of the people who don’t like me.”

7. Overgeneralizing. You perceive a global pattern of negatives on the basis of a single incident. “This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things.”

8. Dichotomous thinking. You view events or people in all-or-nothing terms. “I get rejected by everyone,” or “It was a complete waste of time.”

9. Blaming. You focus on the other person as the source of your negative feelings, and you refuse to take responsibility for changing yourself. “She’s to blame for the way I feel now,” or “My parents caused all my problems.”

10. What if? You keep asking a series of questions about “what if” something happens, and you fail to be satisfied with any of the answers. “Yeah, but what if I get anxious?,” or “What if I can’t catch my breath?”

11. Emotional reasoning. You let your feelings guide your interpretation of reality. “I feel depressed; therefore, my marriage is not working out.”

12. Inability to disconfirm. You reject any evidence or arguments that might contradict your negative thoughts. For example, when you have the thought I’m unlovable, you reject as irrelevant any evidence that people like you. Consequently, your thought cannot be refuted. “That’s not the real issue. There are deeper problems. There are other factors.”

Also please see the video below which “Writer Greg Lukianoff sits down with Atlantic editor in chief James Bennet to discuss the response to his cover story, "The Coddling of the American Mind," a critical look at the effects of trigger warnings and microaggressions on college campuses.”