LEFT SIDE
Conservatives aren’t being “oppressed”, they’re just wrong
Anonymous
A recent study by the Aristotle Foundation found that almost half of all Canadian university students feel that they have to hide their "true beliefs." Of course, the right is pearl-clutching over this, like it is such a tragedy that one is not applauded for their bigotry. Hot take: good. If the only issue you have with being "authentic" is that you cannot loudly deny climate change, strip women of rights, or misgender your classmates with impunity, maybe the issue isn't the campus. Maybe the issue is you.
There is a reason why universities lean left: progress is inherent to higher education, and it literally requires forward movement. The conservative project is simply regression dressed in tradition; it is now, and always has been, attached to hierarchies that colleges are designed to interrogate. So yes, you are going to feel out of place when your worldview forces everyone to remain in the past. That isn't "censorship." That is accountability. That is culture stating, we've outgrown you. No one is "silenced." They are just out-debated, out-organized, and out-voted by persons who refuse to politely nod at intolerance. When conservatives lament "cancel culture" on campus, they are mourning the death of impunity; the days when you could call someone a racist in class, and nobody would blink an eye. Well, news flash: it's gone! And thank god.
So, when the study clutches its pearls about students hiding their "true beliefs," I say good. Just the fact that people hesitate before spewing exclusionary trash means liberal values are doing exactly what they should — shifting the culture. A classroom should not be a haven of ignorance. It should be the forge in which outdated ideologies are burned away.
Maybe conservatives are right about something: college does change people. College exposes one to new ideas, new communities, and new truths that might be uncomfortable. That isn't indoctrination, that is education. If your politics can't survive exposure to reality, then it isn't that your campus is "too liberal." It's that your politics weren't strong enough to begin with.
