LAST CALL: A Sensible Alternative
RICE, NED
A Sensible Alternative BY NED RICE Recent news reports suggest that America is well on its way to becoming the land of the free and the home of the whining crybaby. First, the president of...
...Insensitivity training could be enormously beneficial to those of us who view the world through the distorting prism of victimhood...
...Each day's activities would conclude with a rousing group chant of "Lighten up...
...de of expression...
...A Sensible Alternative BY NED RICE Recent news reports suggest that America is well on its way to becoming the land of the free and the home of the whining crybaby...
...Since insensitive behavior continues to abound, perhaps it's time to attack this problem from the other end...
...Sounds like some folks in Montgomery County need a hug...
...Participants would be encouraged to examine their levels of maturity, and graded as to their ability to take a joke...
...The moral outrage which follows each of these hideous verbal assaults is a call to action...
...What is to be done with those who would call minorities "minorities," or allude to the mentally ill in naming their football team...
...Constructive alternatives to constantly obsessing about one's feelings could be explored...
...Sensitivity training has been around for a while, but in recent years it's turned into a real cash cow for formerly underemployed psych majors who got tired of temp work and wanted to put their degrees to work but couldn't hack the travel of being grief counselors...
...And if you think that crowd is nuts, consider what the San Diego City Council did recently...
...Ideally, individuals who make a big fuss over trivial or imaginary slights or insults would be offered insensitivity training as an alternative to something more fitting such as public caning...
...Under the guidance of a trained instructor, the perpetrators of hate crimes, such as making fun of guidance counselors, are given a psychologically safe environment in which to explore new ways of expressing themselves and to examine their feelings towards others...
...In response,Jaguar assured them that the ads are aimed not at high school guidance counselors, but rather at people who might conceivably be able to afford to own a Jaguar some day...
...By creating a hyperawareness of the infinite number of ways in which some individual's feelings might conceivably be hurt, sensitivity training seeks to change attitudes, foster a group mentality, and create a uniform code of expression...
...Participants could then retire to their quarters for a well-earned rest, secure in the knowledge that the last one in's a rotten egg, and that that's OK...
...Finally, the Montgomery County (Maryland) Counselors Association (yes, the MCCA) is objecting to a new ad for Jaguar which reads, "Your guidance counselor said you would never amount to anything...
...In North Korea this technique is known as "re-education, and it generally takes place in forced labor camps...
...Something must be done...
...Your guidance counselor drove a minivan...
...Facilitators could lead hands-on demonstrations as to the debilitating effects of sticks and stones, as opposed to the largely benign effects of words...
...In China and North Korea this technique is known as "reeducation," and it generally takes place in forced labor camps...
...Instead of spending a lot of time and money encouraging people to be more sensitive, maybe we should be teaching them to be less so...
...The city council's vote was eight to nothing, which suggests that, even when it comes to use of words such as "minority," majority rules...
...The goal of insensitivity training would be to decrease awareness of self and, thus, each person's level of sensitivity...
...4ý 130 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 0 Summer Reading Issue 2001 Sensitivity training seeks to create a uniform code of expression...
...It would also be invaluable to the ignorant, such as people who think "niggardly" is a racial slur...
...As Strother Martin's character in Cool Hand Luke would say, they need to get their minds right...
...In addition to a formal public apology, usually accompanied by a cash settlement, steps must be taken to ensure that the unspeakably brutal crime of poking fun at guidance counselors never happens again...
...The misguided guidance counselors say the ads are hurtful, if not borderline libelous...
...And today's preferred remedy for these people is something called sensitivity training...
...First, the president of the National Mental Health Association is demanding that the XFL's Memphis Maniax change their name to something less demeaning to the mentally ill--you know, people who do nutty things like follow the XFL.Am I crazy, or are these folks being a little touchy...
...Using both group discussions and individual exercises, participants would be strongly urged to grow up, already...
...In North Korea this technique is known as "re-education, and it generally takes place in forced labor camps...
...They've voted to delete the term "minority" from all city documents on the grounds that it's demeaning to members of the demographic groups it, in fact, describes...
...Under the guidance of trained instructors, participants would be offered a psychologically realistic environment--which would look remarkably like an elementary school playground--in which to examine new ways of listening to others...
Vol. 34 • July 2001 • No. 6
