Remember DVD extras?
I used to love them, but, alas, they’re hard to find these days.
One fun part about releasing our film on Substack is that we can bring them back. Viewers can dig deeper into the stories and ideas they saw on the screen.
Today, in the first of many DVD extras, we provide an excerpt from my interview with Jonathan Haidt in which he reflects on the quick rise of microaggression training on university campuses.
Here’s some of what he told me:
When I have a student in my class, who has a Korean name—and I have a Korean wife—and I've been to Korea, I'd like to be able to say, “Is your family Korean?” And then we can talk about Korea.
And until 2014, 2015, that would be a legitimate question. But if students are taught, if a professor asks you where you're from, he's saying, “You're not American.” He's saying, “You don't belong, and you should feel marginalized. And you should actually report him!”
And in many universities, there is a poster on the wall and in every bathroom, telling students how to report their professors, if they commit micro aggressions. So I don't ask students about their background anymore. It's a very sad thing.
