Mommy, I need my SAFE SPACE!!

You guessed it folks, it's time for another Soapbox Session. This one I feel I'll either gain a ton of support or make a lot of enemies regardless how I handle it, but someone has to say something about this: This generation is too soft. You've seen it on the news, read it online on other blogs or YouTube videos, heard about it through Facebook by way of that always politically conscious acquaintance who you never really talk to, and now I'm squawking about it. But how could I begin a rant like this? I am a visual person, so I think the best way to start this thing is with a visual aide. Take a look at this and tell me our generation is full of crybabies:

As you can see in the video, this isn't some ultra liberal community college full of armchair activists, this is YALE, an IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL. To set up the stage for this clip because what's a clip without proper context, the dean of the school, fully aware of the nationwide case of diaper rash among today's collegiate students, made a statement saying that it's Halloween and to feel free to dress up however you like and to have a good time. Channeling their energy in jumping the gun, this group of overgrown toddlers waled on the dean, some even demanding for him to step down because of lack of a safe space. I wish I had more to say about this, but frankly, my blood pressure cannot take much more of this video.




Now mind you, I'm not talking about every college age student out there. Hell, I'm in the same demographic as these yutzes, pardon my Yiddish, and yes I do suffer from anxiety and the like, but I'm not fragile enough to be offended by everything. What these kids (And yes, that's what they are) want is for their college, again, an ivy league school that many students try and fail to get into, to turn into an ivy league preschool. When did everyone become Tina from Dilbert? Remember, she was the chick who managed to twist everything said to her into an offensive diatribe against her gender or profession. See for yourself:

Credit goes to Scott Adams for perfectly summing up modern society two decades before

Tell me that doesn't sound like a situation that could unfold today. Now mind you, I am an extremely tolerant person, I know when things are truly offensive or if people have glass bones and paper skin. Comedy, by and large, isn't meant to hurt anyone, for instance. If I made a joke about, say, Caitlyn Jenner, I'm not having a go at transgenders or even claiming it's wrong, I'm trying to turn something that's seen as odd to the normal person and making it funny, thus any potential fear goes away. Not the best example, but there you go. The point is that there's a difference between someone deliberately being offensive and someone like me taking the piss. We shouldn't have to walk on eggshells because we were too busy coddling this generation with the "Everyone gets a prize" mindset and telling everyone they're the best and thus making their self esteem dependent on this constant reassurance. That, I think, is what caused this problem; the culture we created where participation prizes exist and no one is left out. In life there are winners and losers, and if you win, awesome! If you lose, suck it up and try harder next time instead of shriveling in a hole and dying.

Now onto the meat of this Soapbox Session, the "safe space" or an area free of the offensiveness of reality. A dreamland where unicorns dance on clouds of cotton candy and rainbows made of sunshine dust and everybody is nice and no one gives any criticism, even if it's constructive, A Valhalla of variation, Nirvana for the neurotic, paradise for the paranoid. I may have exaggerated a bit, but I feel that's not too far from the truth. Think for a second: When South Park decides to dedicate an entire season on taking the piss on SJWs and this Faberge egg culture, and your entire state of being is seen as a laughing stock, you have a problem.

Again, I have no issue with people with mental issues and anxiety. I suffer from it myself, I have depression, but do you see me being triggered by something like hand clapping? I'm not that fragile to the point where I have to be handled with kid gloves, and I honestly think this entire movement, if you want to call it that, is attention whoring BS. Again, I'm not denying that there are people with genuine problems, but the world shouldn't have to bend over to your will because "I'm offended!" So what, get over it. There's billions of people alive today, and you're going to let one person get under your skin? One person you don't even know? GET OVER IT!

True mental illness is not something that should be taken lightly, and it pisses me off when I see someone trying to act like they have one just for sympathy and attention, and that's precisely what these crybabies are doing. Folks, life is not easy. If you go into the real world outside of college, outside of your parents house, outside of your delusional safe space or whatever platitude you want to use, you'll be eaten alive if you try pulling this shit on them. You simply cannot live life expecting the world to revolve around you and throwing a tantrum screaming "Check your privilege" or "I'm triggered/offended!" when you don't get your way. There's true oppression out there, and what are you doing to stop it? Oh wait, you're too busy being triggered by applause.

Appeal to worse problems fallacy aside, this generation needs to firm up and grow some balls, end of story. As long as you're not an asshole, I don't care who/what your are or identify as, you're cool. And that's all I have to say about that.

Soapbox Session: Intense Peppermints: The Starbucks Red Cup Debacle

                It’s amazing what gets people riled up in today’s world. If you say one wrong word, you’re called an –ist of some kind. Make one false move and you’re strung up by your balls and forced to apologize lest your livelyhood go down in flames and you’re effectively blacklisted from society. However there’s one thing I never thought I’d have to write an open letter about: Starbucks. Granted, I’m not a frequent customer to the Walmart of coffee houses, but I am aware that they have a few annual traditions, one of them being the red cups they offer every Holiday season once the last bit of pumpkin spice has been snorted by one of the baristas and the halls can officially be decked. However, this year the franchise decided to take a more simple approach to their Yuletide tradition, by having a plain red cup minus any Wintery graphics.

            Personally I find this to be a welcome change, since the color red is still very much associated with the Holidays, but it seems everything is not without its controversy these days, as many die-hard Christians are outraged with the lack of semi-transparent snowflakes and snowmen on their cups, using it as more ammo in their now annual “War on Christmas” debate. There’s so many things wrong with this argument that I don’t know where to begin. First and foremost, shut up about this “War on Christmas” BS. There’s no war on Christmas, and there never was one. You need to recognize that there are other holidays around the time of Christmas, hence why it’s the “Holidays” as opposed to making an amalgamation of every celebration from Christmas to the Winter Solstice. Saying that only Christmas matters is selfish and pretty bigoted to say the least. And don’t get me started on the X-mas bull either, because the X literally means Christ because of its resemblance to the cross and is as old as Christianity itself, but that’s another topic. Starbucks themselves stated that their intent wasn’t to demean Christmas or give it the jolly boot of doom, but to have a minimalist cup which appeals to everyone. Like I said, I still get that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling when I look at the ads without any Santas to inject Holiday Cheer directly in my bloodstream.

Sweet sweet Holiday Cheer....

            Secondly, why does it even matter? I mean, I can understand if some depraved soul decided to start a collection of Starbucks Red Cups and displays them over his mantle piece like trophies, but most people are going to throw them away after taking 50 Instagram pictures of their peppermint-infused diabetic coma in a cup. The drink itself hasn’t changed, so why does a little foam cup matter so much? Maybe it’s my ignorance of coffee culture as a whole and people may indeed treat coffee like it’s a religion in its own right, but I do not see the significance of what will turn into a piece of trash in a matter of minutes. Are we this sensitive as a society where we get our tacky holiday sweaters in a twist when a company changes graphics on a CUP?

            Lastly, I know this goes against the “Appeal to worse problems” fallacy, but surely there are bigger issues in the Christian world than a coffee chain. What about true persecution in foreign countries where missionaries are imprisoned or killed? What about Christian-run charities which could use that $20 you spent on a Vente machiato with all the trimmings to help combat homelessness or hunger? This is clearly a case of picking your battles, and like I said, my argument may be fallacious, but then again, so are people who get uptight about something they’re going to throw in the garbage anyway.  It’s a cup, not a declaration of war. Get over yourselves.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I thought this generation would have more sense than to start nothing short of a riot over a Styrofoam cup. I genuinely thought we were better than this, but now I see why people see Christianity as a joke. Speaking as a devout Christian myself, we need to cut out the BS and focus on things which truly matter, not first-world problems as insignificant as this.