CHRIS ROCK on stand-up at colleges.
I stopped playing colleges, and the reason is because they’re way too conservative.
In their political views?
Not in their political views—not like they’re voting Republican—but in their social views and their willingness not to offend anybody. Kids raised on a culture of “We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose.” Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say “the black kid over there.” No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.
When did you start to notice this?
About eight years ago. Probably a couple of tours ago. It was just like, This is not as much fun as it used to be. I remember talking to George Carlin before he died and him saying the exact same thing.
I think Rock misidentifies the problem. Let’s take it one point at a time:
1) “their willingness not to offend anybody”
It depends on whom is being offended. For example, “sex week” festivities offend the sensibilities of many conservative, religious students, but they are held each year at various campuses. An organizer at Harvard’s most recent sex week said the following about opposition to the “anal sex workshop”: “The conservative backlash speaks to the latent homophobia that society thinks so often it has gotten over, and has not.” So the event offended their sensibilities, and that’s good.
2) “We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose.”
Yes and no. New sorts of competitiveness to replace the old ones. Today, for example, people compete for high placement in an unofficial, constantly-changing hierarchy of the oppressed. Here is an example of this. Even if it is meant as a joke, it still reflects the dominant attitude on many college campuses. A big difference here is that the new competition measures group victimhood rather than individual achievement.
3) “ignoring race to a fault”
On the contrary, college students (not to mention the rest of us) are under constant pressure not to ignore race in absurd ways. Consider Rock’s example for a moment, except replace “black” with “white”: “You can’t say ‘the white kid over there.’ No, it’s ‘the guy with the red shoes.'” This doesn’t work, because it’s perceived as okay to identify a white man as white in such a situation, but not a black man as black. To abide by this rule is not to ignore race, but, rather, to notice it constantly — although one’s expression of noticing must fit within prescribed limits.
In short, college students are okay with causing offense, they’re okay with keeping score, and they’re okay with noticing race — but only in ways that correspond with their doctrine. And their doctrine directs their attitude. Rock only notices the attitude, and disregards the teaching that directs it.