Do “safe spaces” help or harm?
I recently read a couple of articles about the superhero production company Marvel offering grief counseling for fans, who watched their recent film Avengers: Infinity War. My first reaction when seeing the title of the article, “Marvel Offers Greif Counseling at Comic-Con for Fans Traumatized by the End of Infinity War” (Lussier, 2018) was “annoyed.” Come to find out, it was more of a joke and Marvel used it as a way to promote the movie being released on DVD and digital formats. Fans can line up at a booth next to Petco Park in San Diego, put on a name tag, and enter an air-conditioned room where an actor who is there to talk with the group about their best memories from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You get a donut, you watch a deleted scene from the Infinity War Blu-ray and then you get a t-shirt on the way out (Lussier, 2018). The article also mentioned that fans can visit a “group hug” prop of The Hulk. I did think this was a funny way and smart advertisement idea to pair with an ending of a very popular movie that ended a certain way fans may have not anticipated. To me, it was also an attempt at mocking this new age of “safe spaces.” All of this made me think of where do we draw the line when dealing with trauma and stress?
Presently, we see schools and colleges offering “safe spaces” to their students and staff. This gives them a way to feel safe while expressing their views. I completely agree these areas should be held for people dealing with serious trauma such as school shootings, sexual assault, drugs, and alcohol abuse. Though, I believe it’s getting ridiculous. Schools are offering safe spaces for people, who didn’t like the way the election turned out, and an unfavorable social media post, etc. I feel we’re causing more harm than good. Blocking students from exposure to things they dislike and don’t agree with can hinder them from growing. According to political advisor Van Jones (2017) “One is a very good idea, and one is a terrible idea.” The good idea, he said, is “being physically safe on campus, not being subjected to sexual harassment and physical abuse.” “But there is another view that is now ascendant … It’s a horrible view, which is that ‘I need to be safe ideologically, I need to be safe emotionally, I just need to feel good all the time. And if someone else says something that I don’t like, that is a problem for everyone else; including the administration…You can’t live on a campus where people say stuff that you don’t like? You are creating a kind if liberalism that the minute it crosses the street into the real world is not just useless but obnoxious and dangerous. I want you to be offended every single day on this campus. I want you to be deeply aggrieved and offended and upset and then to learn how to speak back (Rose, Huffpost). Students are soon going to be entering the workforce and have co-workers and/or bosses they may dislike. The student may not be prepared with the certain life skills needed to deal with negativity and disappointment. The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves… people can never get better without knowing what they know and feeling what they feel (Van Der Kolk, 2014). To me, letting people deal with things they don’t like can help them grow and become stronger. It’s time to become an adult and stop complaining about every little thing! Be grateful for what you have and the opportunities the world gives you. Thanks- Kyle
Van Der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books. New York, NY.
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