Historical text or offensive material?
In an age where the celebration of diversity is so prioritized and the encouragement of discussion between differing ideas so fostered, there are some forces that twist the meaning of difference and use it to squander creativity and history. Expression of opinion and personal thoughts is praised by modernity, yet when an idea becomes too radical for its circumstances, there is a great chance that it will be shot down. What comes along with freedom of expression is sensitivity to those around. You are allowed to express your ideals and thoughts, so long as it does not interfere with the freedom of expression and another person’s overall feeling of safety.
Columbia University is currently in the middle of a dispute pertaining to the content of many ancient and prized texts that are part of the university’s Core Curriculum. The Spectator, the student newspaper of Columbia, stated why old texts such as Ovid’s Metamorphosis could be seen as offensive. It is quoted as saying “Like so many texts in Western canon, it contains triggering and offensive material that marginalizes student identities in the classroom. These texts, wrought with histories and narratives of exclusion and oppression, can be difficult to read and discuss as a survivor, a person of color, or a student from a low-income background.”
Works that could contain content upsetting to some groups of students are said to have “trigger warnings.” Critics have swiftly narrowed in on the article, stating that if one text is to be banned for its minutely offensive material to a narrow population, the majority of old texts should also be facetiously banned, such as religious texts and the works of Shakespeare. Several Columbia students went on to say that students should feel safe in the classroom, which includes being sensitive to the fact that students come from a variety of backgrounds and identities.
This issue at hand is that there is an attempt being made to censor books that do not fit into the modern state of passivity and people-pleasing. These books come from a completely different era and during such times the values possessed by the appropriate society are not going to line up with those of modernity. As C.S. Lewis once stated, “Every age has its own outlook.” We need to learn and be able to freely observe texts from various ages to get a peek into past values and customs of ages long gone.
Entering a higher institution of learning such as university almost implies that the pupil is well rounded and has at least the beginning rationale of being a global citizen. By reading a variety of texts, it is easy to learn the value of different time periods and perspectives. Some texts will surely be absurd sounding to the modern reader, but nonetheless they all fit into the greater puzzle that is literary history. College is designed to make students free and independent thinkers, and this can only be correctly fostered though critical thinking. Critical thinking can only come from analyzing a multitude of different texts.
While the fate of old texts and books containing seemingly offensive material at Columbia is still up in the air, the question remains the same: What will students gain by diverting their eyes to classical pieces that may temporarily bruise their emotions? If nothing else, the message portrayed in these texts can be taken with a grain of salt, with knowledge that it was written in a time with many differences from the present. The yin and yang of using modern and old texts in conjunction to teach the value of literature shows how important they each are. As Dante once stated, “Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction.”
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