Steve Kaufmann Under Fire for “Bad Take” on Student Mental Health
Steve Kaufmann is a popular polyglot in the language community who has previously established himself through YouTubers in the language space, and via the promotion of his website Ling-Q, a platform to learn language through immersion. He’s recently come under fire for some tweets, and I’d like to share them with you today so you can make an informed opinion.
I first came across Steve in an email from his assistant inviting me to interview him on my youtube channel. “A good opportunity for an amateur language learner like you” was the general tone that came across to me. A bit reluctant, I tentatively did some digging and went through his accomplishment list (that was conveniently linked for me in the emails) and overall, his site, Ling-Q, actually seemed pretty interesting and built in a way that could really help language students. I spent a week thinking things over, but in the end, I decided I didn’t want to do the video. To me, a collaboration offer between two people in similar fields should be on mutual grounds. It was clear that he had no interest in my content, and was simply looking for more exposure. This didn’t bode well with me, and though I respected his work, I declined the offer.
Steve Kauffman is currently under fire, primarily by the language community found on Twitter, for undermining the struggles of university students during the global pandemic situation.
Despite the rough and condescending tone Steve took with this tweet, I do remember also having a similar conversation with a student who refused to stay at home or wear a mask because she prioritised her mental health, and felt it paramount to anyone else’s physical safety. Students, in particular, have been guilty of breaking the government recommendations and going out in large groups or for unnecessary outings of various kinds. From this angle, I could see how perhaps Steve was venting his frustration or lamenting his worries under the circumstances.
Still, the students who are being described in this CTV News article are those trying their best to stay at home and who are suffering from mental health problems and lapses set on by the pandemic. Being a student myself, I can attest to the level of pressure being placed on students at this time to perform, retain and function at a normal level whilst everything in their normal education environment has changed. A degree is difficult enough without the challenge of online classes, social deprivation, lack of vitamin D, exercise, adamant financing- the list goes on. The oversimplification of the matter that Kaufmann provides by saying that these students with depression and anxiety “just need to get active,” and should “spend the time reading and studying” is unsettling, to say the least. Perhaps he’s projecting his own pampered childhood onto the millions of struggling students around the world.
As a response to the initial smoke coming from Kaufman’s tweet on the pandemic, the netizens resurfaced other tweets referring to Kaufmann’s stance on diversity, racism and feminism.
I should say that I found some of the tweets used against Kaufmann were inflated a bit to add to the conversation and feed the fire, for the sake of the fire, and not in the name of social justice but there was a clear trend in the tweets regardless of your opinions on politics.
Kaufmann’s tweets continue to undermine the frustrations of minorities and vulnerable groups, whilst sharing condescending opinions of things he will never experience. It seems almost that Kaufmann is angered, threatened and frustrated by the highlighting of experiences and cultures inaccessible to him. Not to mention he calls himself a linguist, despite never studying linguistics whilst ALSO calling out the linguistics field for doing irrelevant research. In response to a tweet celebrating women in the polyglot community, and asking for people to drop their favourite female linguist or language creator, Steve commented — “Female of male, all successful language learners are confident because they are doing something they enjoy doing”. Elysse Davega politely responded saying “aha do you admire any women in particular though?” to bring the focus back to the original question, and the tweet was left unanswered by Kaufmann. It feels as if Kaufmann is begging for attention at every turn.
Whether you interpret his tweets with some sugar, or with the sting of salt, it’s clear that Steve here needs to take his own advice and pick up some literature. It’s clear that he hasn’t given the voices of those oppressed enough time to develop the empathy to distance himself from the narrative. This isn’t about you Steve, and when you can learn to respect the opinions, experiences and cultures of others then maybe we can find more respect for you.
The language community is a space that is obligated to share and celebrate culture and diversity. By partaking in other people’s culture, we are interacting with something far deeper than words and syntax — and those who share influence in the space are responsible for reflecting and promoting that mindset. If no one else, we should be the ones to stand up for minorities and to understand the complexity in culture and the power that our words hold. This is a very good day for the language community, as we’ve shown that we are committed to keeping those in the community accountable, regardless of their status.
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Comment down below what you think of the situation, I’m always open for corrections or varying perspectives.
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