By Kyle Richardson |Staff Writer|
Is it just me or has everyone been a little too sensitive lately?
Most college students are considered Millennials or Generation Y.
We get this title because we were born between the late 1980s and early 2000s.
Our generation is the upcoming generation in line to run the world as we are graduating college, finishing grad school, starting families, and infiltrating top tier companies.
The biggest problem with it all is that most people of our generation, who we look to lead our country, are a big group of sensitive children.
Social media shares the blame.
We are all connected to each other, as our voiced opinions on certain subjects spread like wildfire.
Anyone who follows me, can reply to a post of mine—even those who do not follow me can still view my post.
If I were to post on Twitter something offensive, it is out there for all to attack me.
But in the end, it could have been a joke.
Yet, some may take it very seriously, where I might become accused of being racist or sexist.
Recently, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders walked out to a song by rapper DMX.
That song had sexist and homophobic slurs, which in result, people have taken to social media to attack Sanders, calling him “anti-gay.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, many top presidents and deans at colleges have been forced to leave their universities after students have launched attacks using social media to destroy their reputations.
In the recent years, there has been many situations as to where the subject of sensitivity within our generation has been in the forefront.
Last year, a student at the University of Missouri went on a hunger strike after a group of people had screamed racial slurs out of a back of a truck at an African American student, then weeks later an intoxicated white student screamed racial slurs out loud, according to Time.
This led to many top school officials stepping down from their positions at the University of Missouri.
Now, I am not African American, so I cannot account for the feelings that it might have brought to them, but I believe the reactions were taken too far.
In response to the incidents in Missouri, an article from Time said of our generation that we “expect authorities to handle severe conflicts and protect them from violence…students would demand protection from mere words.”
Why not use our language to talk it out?
My name is Kyle Richardson and it seems like a typical white boy name.
But if you know me, you know I am not white.
Black hair, brown eyes and dark skin complexion.
I am Filipino and Spanish and look like I am a Latino.
I have been called racist things my whole life, but I do not let words break me.
Yeah, it is not right to say, but they are just words.
What happened to the saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me[?]”
We have become so offended by little things that should not grow into an avalanche of ill will. Sensitive feelings are shaping our generation that makes us out to be a bunch of whiny kids.
Let us stop the whining and do not let someone else’s words affect our mental stability.
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