Sir, – Breda O'Brien hits the nail on the head when she declares "conformism" to be "alive and thriving" and being "used simply to silence others" in many areas of Irish public debate ("The norms may have changed but the pressure to conform remains", Opinion & Analysis, October 10th).
The damage done by the conformism of the Celtic Tiger era, when people who raised questions about the sustainability of the boom were declared “whingers”, is still being endured.
Conformism is still alive and thriving and is being used to silence other views. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – Breda O’Brien writes “University student unions have taken to banning people who are judged outside the pale of acceptable thought and speech, as their presence will make the university ‘unsafe’. Whatever happened to convincing others of the error of their ways by producing better arguments?”
Does this mean that racism, for example, might be tolerated in student unions on the basis that those victimised by it should be able to stop it by the sheer power of their better arguments? Why should any student have to defend themselves against racism, or any other prejudice, even with a better argument?
Student unions ban prejudicial attitudes because they are wrong. Full stop. Some attitudes are even downright evil and as such do indeed make a place of study “unsafe”.
Breda O’Brien need not fear that students will lose the art of convincing others of the “error of their ways” by better arguments simply because they have no errors in thinking to stand up to in university.
Did not thousands of students show the power of better argument to defeat error in the recent marriage referendum debate? Better argument will not of course convince everyone of the error of their ways. There will always be those who do not recognise better argument when they hear it and who will remain in error for a lifetime. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN KELLY,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – There is absolutely an aggressive culture of political correctness and social conformism exhibited by a large contingent of students on campuses across Ireland.
It is simply incredible to much of the “progressive” student body that anyone would state publicly an opinion contrary to an established norm that, more often than not, falls on the far left of the political spectrum.
If today’s students want to have their opinions and voices taken seriously then they need to be open to the criticisms and viewpoints of their peers and the public. – Yours, etc,
JORDAN MARKEY,
Carrickmacross,
Co Monaghan.