When I was a child 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me!' was drilled into us as a mantra from an early age. Today's parents seem to have forgotten to teach their children even this simple resilience so that they grow up afraid of words as well as sticks and stones.
Meantime the Green Cross Code is no longer taught and teens are allowed to leave the house in outfits I would never have been allowed to leave the house in (often glued to ear buds so they cannot hear any risks approaching them as they walk or cycle along) so where is safety consideration when it comes to the physical side of young lives?
Inflammatory Words
Students need safe spaces
Non-platform places
For anxiety abounds
If there’s no topic out of bounds
Challenge is aggression
And you don’t want confrontation
When you have half-formed views
Gleaned from Buzzfeed news
Let’s not mention the secret lunchtime trolling
When not virtue signal extolling
Brexit is bad but other pro-choice is good
And you are the most puritan in vegan food
Demand uncontroversial debate that doesn’t over-excite
And chimes with the views which get facebook likes
We can all agree that kittens are cute, right?
But rigorous debate, that’s the stuff of hate!
Granted, you have all the answers
But why take chances?
What do you mean hysteria, hypocrisy?
Of course you stand for free speech and democracy
As long as they cancel that speaker, the one who won’t pre-submit his speech
So you can vet for free speech offence breach
Fascist? Shut the front door! Racist!
©LS King 2017
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