Adult Safe Spaces

The current controversy over so-called “Safe Spaces” on college campuses has taken on a life of its own.  The concept was so foreign to me that I had to look up the definition.  In my mind, every college WAS designed to be a safe space.  Society gives young people four years (maybe more) that are free of the drudgery of a daily commute, sucking up to a boss, worry over layoffs, working 8-10 hours straight at boring tasks they’d rather not do or, alternatively, a stint in the military where a drill instructor is in your face, screaming at you to do 10 more pushups.  Instead,  students are free to loll around the quadrangles, explore their intellectual interests with plenty of time between classes with most of college costs covered by their parents or deferred through loans.   With many of their friends within walking distance of their dorms, their social lives will never be more convenient or accessible.   There are plenty of available parties and a concentration of like minded individuals of the opposite sex (or even same sex, if that is your inclination).   Most professors have office hours where they will patiently explain things to you that you do not understand (unlike the working world where your superior simply dumps things on your desk without explanation and dashes off to the next client cocktail).  Most of the time colleges arrange things so you do not even have to engage in the most quotidian life tasks, like preparing your own food.  Instead, college food services are generally laden with a cornucopia of choices and today accommodate even the most idiosyncratic of tastes---ethnic, vegan, gluten free, you name it.  It all sounds pretty darn safe to me.   So I was puzzled by this demand for a Safe Space within the safest of spaces (fortunately, my alma mater, to its credit, took the lead on rejecting Safe Spaces on its campus).

A cursory  Google search uncovered this definition of a safe space: 

A Safe Space is a place where anyone can relax and be able to fully express, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, religious affiliation, age, or physical or mental ability.

As an initial matter, work or school by definition cannot ever be a Safe Space because you can and should feel  uncomfortable in either place because of your mental ability or you are simply not working hard enough.

But there are places in which we traditionally experience respite from economic demands and the constant assault of political commentary— and that is in sports, music, plays, and film.  We know, for instance, that the film industry did well during the Great Depression.    People were able to scrape up enough money to spend a couple of hours watching a film and being distracted from their day to day difficulties.  While the hardship our nation is experiencing is economically not as severe as the Great Depression, the Great Recession of ’08 inflicted a great deal of pain on people and the painfully sluggish economy and political upheaval that ensued certainly have caused a great deal of anxiety. Therapists reported an uptick in business due to the election and for the first time, longevity rates among middle aged white men declined—mostly due to suicide and alcohol abuse.

Ironically, while the Left demands Safe Spaces on college campuses, adults are not accorded the same escape.  The places and activities we normally turn to for respite from economic strife and social discord are evidently no longer available to us.

VP elect Mike Pence had to endure a soliloquy from one of the actors when he recently attended a performance of Hamilton.  One of the actors took time out to single out Pence to address his political concerns, subjecting Pence and the audience to his unrequested speech.  Pence appeared to take it in stride and responded with some panache, telling his children, “This is what freedom sounds like.”  The actor’s statement was innocuous enough but after a bruising campaign,  I’m sure he would have preferred not to endure this unwanted political speech and it was a political advertisement that the audience did not need to endure.

Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers has similarly subjected NFL fans to his weekly political statement of kneeling during the national anthem.  Sports is another place to which we turn to set aside our differences and engage in another  somewhat fictitious tribalism—expressing loyalty to one’s own city’s franchise.  Football, especially, has a pretty good record of being  mostly colorblind (See Bill Curry’s inspirational short, “The Huddle” on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGuFy2TBIag) that captures this magnificently).  Decades ago, Vince Lombardi refused to board his team at hotels that didn’t want black players (“All of us stay or none of us stay”).  Football has a long tradition of pageantry and patriotism.  Kaepernick makes more money in the USA than he could anywhere else in the world ….and has a much safer and more secure future.  Not surprisingly, a large segment of the NFL’s audience, which tends to be a patriotic bunch, has decided to turn off their TV sets on Sunday and NFL viewership has plummeted after Kaepernick’s antics.  Kaepernick  is to the NFL brand what salmonella is to Chipotle. 

Finally, I experienced this phenomena myself this summer.  Yes, a middle aged  American white guy has an affinity for African culture.  I like African art and food, and have several African dishes among my favorite recipes.  I especially like African music and have been a regular listener of Georges Collinet’s Afropop Worldwide (www.afropop.org).  Ladysmith Black Mambazo,  a South African choral group that I like very much was playing at the Ravinia Festival so I snatched a ticket last summer.  They opened with a political statement about oppression of minorities.   Again, it was innocuous enough, but the group went on and on preaching and lecturing through song for about a half hour (“when will the world value a black life as much as a white one”).  All I wanted was to hear a superb group perform a blend of two genres of music that I like a great deal--choral and African. But in a summer where the news contained nightly segments on racial strife, I got a performance politicizing racial strife.  I finally gathered my chair and blanket and left.

Yes, I am fully committed to free speech.  People have the right to say whatever it is they want to say.  But people don’t want to be lectured, hectored or preached at relentlessly at events they are attending to get away from economic and societal discord.  This is a one way street.  It is always from the Left and it leaves you with only two choices: politely listen to their advertisement or forego the cost of the ticket and leave.  The NFL viewership decline is an indication of what will likely occur if the Left insists  on using the avenues of entertainment to promote grievance mongering.   I, for one, have not watched a single NFL game on TV and won’t this season.  Many of my friends that were former athletes have done the same. Those of us that pay hard earned money to attend these events as relief from day to day stresses will continue to find alternative forms of entertainment.  Besides, a walk in the woods on an autumn Sunday afternoon is healthier than an afternoon on the couch or a barstool watching a pro football game.

My thinking has evolved on Safe Spaces.  It would be better for our entire society if there were at least some places where we can go that are free from the relentless pushing of political agendas. Adults need Safe Spaces too.