The Father of Freedom Rolls Over in his Grave – Safe Space Insanity Continues

James Madison was the Father of the U.S. Constitution – the greatest political document written in the history of mankind. Why is it the greatest? Because it expressed the importance of a vigorous free marketplace of ideas, debate, and discourse.

Madison understood that the greatest bulwark against tyranny is the freedom of the people and dispersing power amongst large groups and factions of people to ensure no single group can reign over all the others to impose their ridiculous ideas.

Well, James Madison is rolling over in his grave now. At his namesake, James Madison University, student orientation leaders were given a list of 35 phrases they shouldn’t say as a resource to help them create safe spaces and encourage incoming freshmen.

Apparently, referring to older people as “cute” or telling people they have a “pretty” face creates dangerous places.

Empathy? LEAVE THAT OUT OF THE SAFE SPACES! You can’t tell people you know exactly how they feel. Stop trying to find common ground. That’s not how society gets better.

Trying to see the best in people by giving people the benefit that they had good intentions? NONE OF THAT!

Talking about people needing to take responsibility for their own lives and pick themselves up by their bootstraps? Academia will have none of that…

Telling people you don’t see differences? ENOUGH! NONE OF THAT.

Could we be any further through the looking glass? Let me be clear – this is just the latest sign that the speech police at universities and in society want to create tyrannical spaces, not safe spaces.

The spokesperson for James Madison University told The College Fix that “this was just an exercise, prior to orientation, to get our volunteers to understand how language affects others. The list was not distributed to our first-year students nor were the volunteers instructed not to use the phrases.”

Seems like even the university knows they have people acting contrary to the principles of its namesake.

For the full list of phrases people shouldn’t use, click to continue.

1. “Some of my best friends are …”
   2. “I know exactly how you feel.”
   3. “I don’t think of you as …”
   4. “The same thing happens to me too.”
   5. “It was only a joke! Don’t take things so seriously.”
   6. What do ‘your’ people think.”
   7. “What are you?” or “Where are you really from?”
   8. “I don’t see color” or “I’m color blind.”
   9. “You are so articulate.”
   10. “It is so much better than it used to be. Just be patient.”
   11. “You speak the language very well.”
   12. Asking black people about their hair or hygiene.
   13. Saying to LBGTQ people “what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom is your business.”
   14. “Yes, but you are a ‘good’ one.”
   15. “You have such a pretty face.”
   16. “I never owned slaves.”
   17. “If you are going to live in this country, learn to speak the language!”
   18. “She/he is a good person. She/he didn’t mean anything by it.”
   19. “When I’ve said the same thing to other people like you, they don’t mind.”
   20. Calling women “girls, honey, sweetie pie” or other familiar terms.
   21. When people of color say, “It is not the same thing.”
   22. When people of faith say, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
   23. When white men say, “We are the ones being discriminated against now!”
   24. Referring to older people as “cute.”
   25. Asking a transgender person, “What are you really? A man or a woman?”
   26. Referring to the significant other, partner, or spouse of a same gender couple as their “friend.”
   27. “Why do ‘they’ (fill in the blank) always have to sit together? They are always sticking together.”
   28. “People just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.”
   29. People with disabilities are “courageous.”
   30. “That’s so gay/queer. That’s so retarded.”
   31. “I don’t see difference. We are all part of the same race, the human race.”
   32. I don’t care if you are pink, purple or orange, I treat all people the same.”
   33. Asking a transgender person, “Have you had the operation.”
   34. Saying to a Jewish person, “You are so lucky to have ‘your’ Christmas spread over a week!”
   35. “Here’s another book on political correctness.”