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Claire Fox

I Find That Offensive (Provocations) Hardcover – 5 May 2016

by Claire Fox (Author)

109 ratings

Part of: Provocations (22 books)

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When you hear that now ubiquitous phrase 'I find that offensive', you know you're being told to shut up. While the terrible murder of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists demonstrated that those who offend can face the most brutal form of censorship, it also served only to intensify the pre-existing climate that dictates we all have to walk on eggshells to avoid saying anything offensive - or else.

Indeed, competitive offence-claiming is ratcheting up well beyond religious sensibilities. So, while Islamists and feminists may seem to have little in common, they are both united in demanding retribution in the form of bans, penalties and censorship of those who hurt their feelings.

But how did we become so thin-skinned? In 'I Find That Offensive!' Claire Fox addresses the possible causes of what is fast becoming known as 'Generation Snowflake' head-on (no 'safe spaces' here) in a call to toughen up, become more robust and make a virtue of the right to be offensive.

PROVOCATIONS is a groundbreaking new series of short polemics composed by some of the most intriguing voices in contemporary culture and edited by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Sharp, intelligent and controversial, Provocations provides insightful contributions to the most vital discussions in society today.

ISBN-10

9781849549813
ISBN-13

978-1849549813
Publisher

Biteback Publishing
Publication date

5 May 2016
Language

English
Dimensions

12.07 x 2.54 x 19.05 cm
Print length

208 pages
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Product description

Review

"An ambitious new series that tackles the controversy of the topics explored with a mixture of intelligence and forthright argument from some excellent writers." --The Observer

About the Author

Claire Fox is the director of the Institute of Ideas, which she established in 2000 to create a public space where ideas can be contested without constraint. She convenes the yearly Battle of Ideas festival, established the prestigious nationwide Debating Matters competition for sixth-form students and coorganises the Institute of Ideas' residential summer school, The Academy: 'University as it should be'.

A panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze, Claire is regularly invited to comment on developments in culture, education and the media on television and radio programmes such as Question Time and Any Questions? She is also a columnist for the Times Educational Supplement and Municipal Journal.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1849549818
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Biteback Publishing (5 May 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781849549813
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849549813
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.07 x 2.54 x 19.05 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 399,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,288 in Psychology & Emotions
- 11,974 in Higher Education of Biological Sciences
- 17,923 in Government & Politics

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109 ratings

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Critical Issues.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2016

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This is a very important book. It may not have quite the depth of Mick Hulme’s “Trigger Warning”, - strongly recommended! - but it is incisively argued in its focus on a very real threat to our liberty. Behind all lies our craven acceptance of infringements to our rights to free speech. Here, Claire Fox takes as her starting point the Charlie Hebdo atrocity and makes us aware that for all the “I am Charlie” protests, major public figures from The Pope upwards or downwards qualified their references to this brutal attack on our basic freedoms with mealy-mouthed qualification.

Ms. Fox goes on to discuss the alarming state at our universities, places which should enshrine openness to a spectrum of debate, not close the doors on anyone whose views are not sufficiently politically correct or who might be mildly disturbed by hearing opinions that do not coincide with their own. Do those who require the mental toughness to qualify and to study subjects such as Law and Medicine lack the resilience to hear views different from the received orthodoxies of the nanny state?

This, Ms Fox claims, is the inheritance of the child-centred education fostered in university education departments and reinforced by the likes of the NUT. She is right. Where is the resilience? Where is the generosity and humility to listen respectfully to that which initially we find repellent? When we retreat into this narrow mean-spirited and humourless stance we abandon the most vital principles upon which our civilisation has been built. What a retreat from the enlightenment when speakers are barred from universities because students must be protected rather than challenged.

From the ludicrous teaching of friendship skills to trigger warnings to alert students that what they read may cause them hurt! Of course, the perpetrators of this farce are disingenuous. They are not the meek victims they would have us believe. All is a cover to silence unpalatable political, literary and social issues. The Rhodes statue must come down; it is like Russian politicians disappearing from photographs during the Soviet era. The “meek victims” are in fact cold-blooded arrogant and authoritarian. They have more in common with Stalin’s regime than with civilised democratic values. We would well to pay attention to Ms. Fox; it is to be hoped that it is not too late for the wheel to turn.

43 people found this helpful

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Nikos S

Putting SJWs and 'Generation Snowflake' into a historical context

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 2016

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Nowadays, one cannot keep track of the many weird or scary stories coming out of universities, schools and the public sphere in general that have to do with absurd calls for censorship and for clamping down any short of ‘offensive speech’. From the persecution of Tim Hunt to calls for space spaces and trigger warning in universities, people dealing with education or the world of ideas in general feel they are walking on thin ice. Claire Fox tries not only to provide an overview of the various phenomena around today’s uneasiness with free speech and strong convictions, but also to put them into a context. Instead of the easy option of pointing the finger to ‘Social Justice Warriors’ or the ‘Generation Snowflake’, she examines the cultural zeitgeist that gave rise to such phenomena.
The books starts with the interesting ‘tales of two schools’: her personal experience with confronting two superficially different audiences of sixth-former students on two different occasions and debating two different topics, but with one common outcome: young people being unable to cope with a different opinion and even collapsing in tears when confronted with ideas that question their certainties.
Part I deals with an overview of various different stories in a variety of environments, from campus to twitter, where free speech has been under attack, emphasising the scary shift that it is not anymore about what one objectively states, but how this is perceived by any individual that could suffice for one to bear the label of racist, sexist, homophobic, rape apologist etc. She deals with various issues, such as ‘micro-aggressions’, the rise of the ‘victimised subject’ and the negative outcomes of identity politics being reduced to a tribalist warfare of competing claims for the status of the victim.
Part II traces the rise of the ‘generation snowflake’ to tendencies that have been inherent in our society for the last decades, such as the centrality of health and safety in public policy, the corrosion of adult authority in education and within the family, moral and philosophical relativism and the lowering of expectations from what an individual is capable of achieving and/or overcoming, the ‘everyone is a winner’ attitude etc. She reaches an interesting conclusion…all these forces have created a trend of individuals that, responding to the environment they grew up, see themselves on the one hand as vulnerable and incapable of taking life in their own hands, yet on the other hand express a self-righteous narcissistic attitude of having things in their own way, irrespective on whether they have earned it or not.
Part III is an open letter to ‘generation snowflake’, followed by another one to the ‘anti-snowflakers’ on how not to oppose the phenomenon, followed by a call to arms for universalist values that could create an atmosphere where freedom and the progressive universalist ideals could flourish.
The book is directed to the wider public and at the same time it is of a high intellectual standard and one can find many helpful references to data and academic works. It is a book that contributes towards making sense not only of the specific topic it deals with, but also of the intellectual attitudes of our times.

8 people found this helpful

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Stephen Parker

Very Funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 January 2020

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Well written, and very funny. I emphasise "well written", because it's rare now to find a book, other than one written by an avowed academic and linguistic purist, that hits you as such. A pleasure, therefore, for me, whatever the subject-matter!
"I Find That Offensive" hits the target for me in many ways: it's timely, thoughtful, daring, and spot on: I laughed out loud about every two minutes.
My only disappointment was that I felt it ran out of steam a bit in the final two chapters, but even considering this minor shortcoming, it's a book I read, and will re-read, with pleasure and great enjoyment.

Helpful

Dene

By Addressing a Problem So Pervasive, This Book Could Go On Forever

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 October 2017

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A concerning insight into the pervasiveness and relentless onslaught of political correctness, and its surreptitious war on free speech. This text lays out the root cause of many of the issues that Europe and the West in general is facing, that of the suppression of expression and ideas. The many examples given in this book are just a drop in the ocean, but nevertheless provide and interesting insight into what is happening across university campuses throughout the West, and also in wider society. Highly recommend.

5 people found this helpful

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Mr. Roger Eden

Describes Generation Snowflake with troubling accuracy and detail

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2016

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Really very worrying. Hearing of "safe" rooms in Universities with cuddly toys and warning stickers for classic works of literature, this book made me feel even worse. Well written and well worth the read.

7 people found this helpful

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