Political commentator Van Jones has made a powerful and inspiring speech about safe spaces and how he believes liberals ought to confront real issues today. Jonathan Haidt tweeted the video:
Van Jones makes the most powerful case I've ever seen for why safe spaces are bad for students and bad for the left:https://t.co/8IZqCK7H7H
— Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) February 26, 2017
In the video Van Jones is confronted at first by a man who says that engaging with the Trump administration is in a way normalizing it. Van Jones responds by making it clear that he is:
“against bigots and I’m against bullies.”
He then goes on to discuss safe spaces and he defines two ideas surrounding the concept. One idea which he thinks is a good one is the idea that you are to be physically safe on a campus, free from sexual harassment, physical abuse, or hate speech. The other idea which Jones says is a “horrible view” is to be “ideologically safe.” As for emotional and ideological safety he says that if someone does:
“not feel good all of the time and if someone says something that (they) don’t like then that is a problem for everyone else, including the administration.”
Jones continues, explaining why he thinks this is a horrible idea:
“I don’t want you to be safe emotionally I don’t want you to be safe ideologically, I want you to be strong. I am not going to pave the jungle for you. Put on some boots and learn to deal with adversity. I’m not going to take all the weights out of the gym, that’s the whole point of the gym.”
With great passion, he then explained what his parents had personally gone through in their lives. He said they were:
“marched, they dealt with firehoses, they dealt with dogs, they dealt with beatings, and you can’t deal with a mean tweet!”
Finishing with a flourish, he said:
“You are creating a type of liberalism that the minute it crosses the street into the real world is not just useless, but obnoxious and dangerous. I want you to be offended every single day on this campus….and then learn how to speak back because that’s what we need from you in these communities.”
Watch the powerful clip here:
Featured image via YouTube.
