Being discrete? – hard to appreciate in these days of social-media with everything?
Discretion? – Cowardice or Valour @WallyFlea – declining an immediate battle is standard tactics in bigger picture strategy. (Read Sun-Tzu or Clauswitz – or compare Napoleon at Borodino with Napoleon and the Muscovites for a topical example.)
Compare rejection of sharing or giving a platform – with “balance” in news stories always having a spokesperson or statement from the opposing view. (eg scientific claims vs religion or homeopathy say). People who reject “no platforming” are often the first to object to such “false” (politically-correct) balance.
@PeterTatchell‘s rejection by Christchurch Canterbury students union? Peter is an establishment figure – a national treasure – thanks to his years of campaigning getting “radical” issues accepted in the mainstream. I agree with his agenda to “de-radicalise” LGBT issues – they’re just a normal (*) part of society’s arrangements, let’s keep ’em that way. But then he / we have to get used to the idea that students reject the establishment – it’s their job. Part of learning, part of experimenting with alternatives.
Of course, for this reason, the place of learning is a “safe space”; safe enough that students’ mistakes can be left behind – bar the odd embarrassing photo (*) – and; safe enough that their experiments needn’t damage the rest of society – until something genuinely novel or revolutionary breaks out into real life. The progression of roles child – student – adult – parent may not map easily to particular years of age across global cultures, but the pattern remains. There was a time you had to be an adult to vote and affect the rest of our lives. Real life is not a risk-free repeatable experiment.
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(*) Normal – needs unpicking – but that’s another topic for another day.
(*) Oops – see social media. But the point is student identity should not remain as a millstone around their adult necks.