The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

In February 2017, as conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos prepares to give a speech in Berkeley, California, masked members of the “antifascist” group Antifa riot there, beating up numerous bystanders and causing $500,000 in vandalism damage. None are prosecuted. Some rioters are students at UC Berkeley: “[M]any students on the left have become increasingly receptive to the idea that violence is sometimes justified as a response to speech they believe is ‘hateful’” (83). Ironically, Berkeley is where the Free Speech Movement begins in 1964: “The fact that in 2017, Berkeley students were protesting to shut down a speech—and even using vandalism and violence to do it—seemed ironic to many observers” (84).

Supporters write essays that contain cognitive distortions. Says one: “Asking people to maintain peaceful dialogue with those who legitimately do not think their lives matter is a violent act” (85). This inverts the meaning of common English words and leads to “concept creep. In just the last few years, the word ‘violence’ has expanded on campus and in some radical political communities beyond campus to cover a multitude of nonviolent actions” (85). Thus, violent protest against speech is justified as self-defense.

At Middlebury College in March 2017, protesters, failing to have libertarian Charles Murray’s speech canceled, try to disrupt the event and physically attack Murray and the moderator, Professor