A pernicious mechanism for exercising totalitarian control over free speech.

Well, that's interesting. I had not realized that there was a point source for microaggression theory. I had always assumed it was just a general idiocy arising from the knotheads in critical race theory. Indeed, I had not even thought there being a school of thought warranting the term microaggression theory.

From ‘Microaggressions’ professor: ‘Not everything is a microaggression’ by Maria Lencki.

Derald Sue, a professor at Columbia University and one of the principal popularizers of the concept of “microaggressions,” recently stressed that “not everything is a microaggression,” and that such exchanges “have to be seen in context.” Yet the professor emphasized that the theory of microaggressions continues to be valuable and relevant today.

A “microaggression” is defined as “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority).” The term has become popular on college campuses in recent years, with students frequently accusing each other of committing microaggressive acts, usually associated with race or sex.

In a phone interview, Sue told The College Fix that the concept did not originate with him but with a psychiatrist named Chester Pierce in the 1970s. “It was never picked up. It was almost like [Pierce] was a victim of a microaggression. They didn’t think his work was valuable and wasn’t considered something that was worthy of social scientific studies,” he said.

Sue himself would pick up the work several decades later. “One reason I think people didn’t pick it up was because there wasn’t a taxonomy or classification system that directly explained the types of microaggressions, what they looked like, their harmful impact, and what went on in the heads of both perpetrators and targets,” he said.

“Once we were able to publish that in 2007 in American Psychologist, people picked it up everywhere.”

‘Not everything is a microaggression’

Today, the theory of microaggressions has been promulgated at many universities throughout the country. Numerous schools, such as the University of California, the University of Minnesota, and Messiah College have developed expansive lists of microaggressions for students to study, with phrases such as “You speak English well,” “America is a melting pot” and “America is the land of opportunity” being counted as microaggressive.

The private school Simmons College even released a guide to microaggressions for students that stated saying “God bless you” after someone sneezes counts as a microaggression. The list said that the phrase “conveys one’s perception that everyone is Christian or believes in God.”

Though Sue stressed the real and pervasive nature of microaggressions generally, he said of these odder examples: “Not everything is a microaggression.”

Sue drew a comparison between the broadening of what constitutes a microaggression and the popularized work of Sigmund Freud in the 20th century.

“Freud used a lot of symbolism, like phallic symbols and things of that nature. And at one point people began to take everything as phallic symbols, and he had to say: ‘Even a banana could be a banana’,” Sue said.

“You have to look at why someone is saying, ‘This represents a microaggression’,” Sue said, stating that the “God bless you” example “may be going too far.”

I cannot imagine wishing my name associated with such a pernicious mechanism for exercising totalitarian control over free speech.

Not every idea warrants the designation of "theory" and not every verbal infelicity is an aggression.

More to the point, we have had generations of injunctions that cover this ancient territory, usually received as an admonishment from your mother or grandmother - "Don't be rude", "Mind your manners", "Be nice". So much more pleasant than the toxic slime of microaggression theory.

The irony is that having turned the concept loose on the world, its actual effect is to isolate the supposedly marginalized groups who might use the accusation. It is almost a reverse incantation in that its use sets up a negative feedback loop which redounds on the accuser.

Someone says something I don't like so I embarrass them by accusing them of microaggression. I have scored a momentary jolt of power by controlling someone else but at the expense of the other person's discomfort. Do it more than once and I establish a negative feedback loop for that person. They will no longer wish to converse with me.

The unintentional consequence is that an academic idea which was developed to shield people from being marginalized, ends up marginalizing them even further.