42 Things You're Not Allowed to Say At Virginia Tech

Fifty years ago, students protested for free speech. Now, they’re protesting against it. Last spring, groups at Virginia Tech collaborated to produce a list of 42 different expressions which offend them. Posters reminding students of the forbidden speech remain scattered across campus today, The College Fix reported.

“It should have been a campaign to promote common decency, but beneath the surface, it plays into their own scornful agendas,” Nicholas Korpics, a senior at the college, told The College Fix. “The minority groups on campus, especially within the leftist-queer community, have little to no intentions of reconciling with their ‘oppressors.’ They just want to isolate themselves and then say nasty things about people who oppress them.”

The list of forbidden expressions was compiled at a series of weekly meetings hosted by the NAACP, the Muslim Student Association, and the Jewish Student Union. At least three remain in McBryde academic hall, telling students not to say “All Jews are rich,” not to call students “spicy latinas,” and not to shout “run n*gger run” at black joggers — as if these were all common practices.

All such phrases are considered “micgro-aggressions,” which means that no matter what the intentions of the speaker or the context of the comment, such statements carry the ability to offend someone, and therefore must be forbidden.

This is not the first time Virginia Tech has made the news for controversial posters. Earlier this year, students put up posters asking Christian students to check their “religious privilege.”

Without further ado, here is the list of 42 expressions forbidden by the PC police at Virginia Tech, organized by four major categories: disability, religion, transgenderism, and race. Enjoy (or mourn, your pick)!

Trigger warning: many of these border on the absurd. Actually realizing that people think of these things as discriminatory may cause confusion, anger, and the desire to share this article on social media. You’ve been warned.

Disability.

• “She’s so bipolar.” Disabilities are not insults.
• “Coworkers at another institution frequently tried to ‘diagnose’ people behind their back, and repeatedly described people with specific disabilities (that I share) as scary, dangerous, awkward, creepy, weird, ect.”
• A disabled person being told “You’re so inspirational” for doing an everyday task.
• “Don’t call yourself that,” where that refers to me calling myself disabled.
• “You have so much to be thankful for, you have no reason to be depressed.”
• “You just need a positive mental attitude!” being told to people with mental illness or other disabilities.
• A non-disabled classmate viewing the R-word as just another swear word and including it in a poem.
• Going to other campus social justice or diversity events, and them not being accessible [for disabled people].
• Having to take a longer, less obvious route to get into buildings on campus. [Yes, they consider just having to do this a “micro-aggression” against the disabled.]

Next Page: Race.

Race.

• “I am not a brand, so stop labeling me.”
• Being called an “angry black woman” when speaking in a stern voice or standing up for yourself.
• “When you underestimate my mental capacity based on my proficiency speaking English.”
• Arriving at a house party and hearing, “Party’s over, too many n*ggers here, time to leave.”
• Being asked if “there were pinatas” at my friend’s party.
• Being asked to present the black perspective in a predominantly white class.
• When you tell people where you’re from and they automatically assume you’re from the “bad part” of that area.
• When fellow Hokies tell me, “I thought all of YOU PEOPLE were good at basketball.”
• Being in a room full of fellow academics and being told that you speak “very intelligently.”

Facebook photo saying using the phrase “spicy latina” is a micro-aggression.

• Being told that I am a “Spicy Latina,” anytime that I give my opinion.
• Jogging down the street and hearing “Run N*gger Run,” shouted from cars passing by.
• Professors making condescending remarks about your undergrad because it was an HBCU.
• Treating my hair as your own private petting zoo.
• When I tell someone about my origins and they reply with “Wait, you’re all not Mexican!”
• When meeting someone for the first time, and the first thing they ask is if “English is my second language.”
• When my white professors say “n*gger” thoughtlessly in class.
• When people tell you you’re only at Virginia Tech because of affirmative action.
• When school official state that, “people like you should stay home and not waste taxpayers dollars…despite scoring in the 90th percentile in nationwide exams.”
• When white people claim to be “blacker than you” for knowing the words to a rap song.
• Being told that I am “so well spoken…for a Latino.”
• When you think it’s humorous to ask me, “how do you say taco in Spanish.”

Next Page: Religion and Transgenderism.

Religion.

• “All Jews are rich.” I’m working to pay myself through college.
• “Jew are just white people”… explain these communities who have existed for centuries.
• There are many holidays to be observant of, and I may have to miss class. Please respect my religion.
• When someone finds out that I’m Jewish and then asks if I was born that way.

Facebook photo saying “are you a boy or a girl” is a micro-aggression.

Transgenderism.

• “Why can’t you just be gay?”—Gender identity and sexuality are not the same.
• “I don’t understand why you can’t just be happy with your body.”
• “Are you a boy or a girl?”
• “But gender is socially constructed, you don’t need to physically transition”—accept, don’t invalidate trans people’s experiences and wants for their body.
• “Since you’re transitioning, does that make you [insert sexuality here]?”
• “What’s your real name/gender?”—One’s identity and/or gender are what they say it is.
• “Why can’t boys just dress like boys and girls just dress like girls?”
• People correcting others for not using certain terms to describe me (e.g. “No, that’s a dudette”)—let trans people describe their own identities.

Most of these comments are not defensible, and I doubt many Virginia Tech students or professors say them frequently or at all. Nevertheless, the hyper-sensitive students rush to list what cannot be said, no doubt inspiring some to break their “rules” and utter these things anyway.

A few of these phrases would likely be expressed in true perplexity, like “gender is socially constructed, you don’t need to physically transition.” This statement might be highly offensive, but it also illustrates the incompatibility of two liberal ideas: that gender is socially constructed, and that those who are transgender need to embrace their felt gender identity. It really is perplexing how someone can believe both ideas, and shutting down the debate on such an issue may seem charitable, but it only perpetuates the confusion.

This kind of pre-offense censorship helped propel Donald Trump to victory, and to launch the Alt Right — an openly racist backlash that would have been unthinkable without this latest push of political correctness.