‘Safe Spaces’ Are Stupid And Will Always Backfire

A dismissal of the modern tumble-tot philosophy in the time it takes to boil a kettle.

Before we get started on this one, I’m not talking about physical safe spaces like refugee camps. I’m also not looking to boot vulnerable women out of protective spaces designed to keep them safe from domestic abuse. This isn’t about the human need for physical safety.

It’s about fighting the desire to bubble-wrap yourself against the views of people who disagree with you

Part one

1. I identify as oppressed. I am entitled not to feel oppressed and this means I need a safe space to explore my voice and ideas.
2. I would like to gather with like-minded people free from oppression. This will make me feel safe and I will be empowered.
3. To do this we must exclude X type of people from the space or prevent them from speaking to us. This is what makes it safe.

Part one makes perfect sense. I get it. Or at least I understand the desire to have a space to speak to like minded people in subjective emotional safety. I think the vast majority of people on the planet have such a space.

It’s called their home.

You can invite whomever you like into your home and refuse entry to anyone who you don’t agree with. It’s not a public space. It’s your space. It’s as safe as you want to make it. Doing the same with public spaces like university campuses is problematic because it leads directly to this…

Part Two

1. X type of person also identifies as oppressed but I don’t believe them.
2. I can neither disprove person X is or is not oppressed because the benchmark for such a thing comes down to self-identification.
3. Safe spaces are now a tool used by all ideological groups to protect themselves from subjective oppression by all the others.
4. Segregation.

Safe Spaces will come back to bite you

Safe spaces were back in the news when it all kicked off in the news a few weeks ago. A camp for gay men decided trans-men couldn’t come join — because they didn’t have a penis or some other spurious reason. It rapidly turned into an LGBTQ+ civil war in which everyone was outraged.

Everyone except me. My view can be summed up as… What exactly did you expect to happen you idiots? If you introduce safe spaces for one group, you introduce them for all groups. They’re an ideological club for everyone to beat everyone else.

I raised this point two years ago when Robert Foster refused to be alone with female journalists citing the ‘Billy Graham rule’. When feminists jumped on the ‘women shouldn’t have to be left alone with a man if they don’t feel comfortable’ bandwagon, they didn’t stop to think the reverse would also apply.

Yes, there’s very little danger that a man may be murdered or raped, far less than the other way round. However, that’s not the point as it’s about feelings rather than facts. Robert Foster’s feelings about unmarried women posing a danger to his marriage were justified, a tiny minority of women have made false allegations in the past. I know, unfair isn’t it?

Robert Foster is entitled to the same ideological safe space if he wants it. His feelings outrank statistics and all other factors.

You could argue he’s discriminating against women because, to be frank, he is. He was able to exclude female journalists from interviewing him without a male chaperone. ‘This is unfair!’ feminists cried, as they got the safe space argument thrown back at them.

There is no legality for ‘safe spaces’ they are a social construct. A product of messy social engineering. If you can exclude X person you must also allow X person to exclude others.

If it feels like Robert Foster is trying to create a batshit alternate reality where his fidelity is linked to opportunity then you’re right. He is. It’s a douchebag argument and one easily refuted by sensible rationalism, however his desire for a safe space is a valid one under the twisted logic of safe spaces.

It was argued that his safe space was for politicalgain and I wouldn’t disagree with you. But they all are and therein lies the problem. When you insist on silencing others based your own feelings or weaponised offence then you’re opening Pandora’s storage unit of civil unrest and tit-for-tat idiocy.

I already hear the distant echoes of arguments being lined up.

So we should just let Neo-Nazis say what they want huh? That’s what you think huh Penguin? People should be allowed to be offensive and rude? They should be allowed to say exactly what they think?

Yes, as a matter of fact I do, for two reasons. Firstly, nobody ever died of being offended.

Secondly, it wouldn’t take me or any other reasonably skilled debater long to make them look like raging idiots in the public spotlight. Someone has unpleasant views? Use your own words to shine a light on it, chuckle at the insults as they bounce off you.

But…but… you’d let hate speakers speak? Yes. Better to do it somewhere I can see them and debate them. I don’t want them fermenting little bubbles of hate outside of my field of vision.

Under no circumstances run away, insist the world is ending, your brain has melted and you need to be in a safe space. This imbues ideological idiots with power that they shouldn’t have. What you’ve done there is legitimised their words, you’ve got yourself an own goal.

We’ve had ‘no platforming’ at universities for a while now and it should be called out as the failure in education policy it is.

Safe spaces empower the idiots inside them and those left outside.

What about the people inside?

Spend enough time hanging around with people who utterly agree with you and you’ll cease to be able to function in the real world. You can’t create an identity without testing it against the boundaries of everyone else in society.

If you develop your identity or political approach in a safe space surrounded by the unwavering support of your ideological friends you will become infantalised. You’ll be a child, intellectually, philosophically and emotionally. You’re not in society, you’re in a support group or cult.

And when you emerge you will be anxious, prone to histrionics at the first sign of trouble. You’ll respond to arguments like a mardy toddler and be irritating for everyone who isn’t you.

Sometimes on this platform it feels like you’re setting sail against a sea of infants. It is entirely my own observation but I feel a strong divide between the under 40s and over 40s when it comes to rational debate. One I lay squarely at the feet of safe spaces.

You are entitled to live free from persecution. The rest of us are entitled to live without pandering to your persecution complex.

The BIPOC Safe Space isn’t benevolent

Following the success of isolated thinking at University, many progressive liberals are shepherding their BIPOC colleagues into specialist focus groups. This makes me nervous. Surely, such a benevolent action must be empowering?

Perhaps you think so. I don’t. I’m always amazed at human stupidity and the law of unintended consequences.

It would make sense for that empowered group to seek further protection from micro-aggressions and managerial oversight. They would enjoy the relative comfort of such a safe space. Why the hell not? I know I would.

How long before you’re baking resentment into the core of the working environment? How long before petty squabbles are continually played out in HR offices up and down the country?

How long do you think it’ll be before all the BIPOC work stream is steadily devalued by the overarching structure of the company? How long do you think it’ll be before there are separate rooms, separate toilets, separate working spaces and different types of work?

How long before people sit at different places in the staff canteen or are only allowed to order specific food for risk of offending the other? How long before that resentment becomes interdepartmental? How long do you think it’ll be before you have segregation by the back door?

Congrats, safe spaces morphed into Neo-Apartheid-Lite and the well-meaning HR department is now the new face of racism.

If you’re not from the UK, please try and include the word ‘mardy’ in your conversations. It’s an excellent word. In the meantime, looking for something else to read? Want more controversial penguin?