Cruz: 'Universities are trying really hard to raise a generation of pansies'
During his speech, Cruz ridiculed the idea of “trigger warnings” on college campuses, claiming that they negate the purpose of universities entirely.
Sen. Ted Cruz gave a speech to the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz bashed universities in a Thursday speech, saying that America’s colleges are raising a “generation of pansies” and doing a disservice to students by shielding them from “scary ideas.”
Cruz let loose on academia at Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference, telling the crowd “if you are a university administrator, the ideas that are represented in this room are terrifying.”
“There are no ‘safe spaces’ in this room,” he added.
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During the question and answer session, one Binghamton University student shared with Cruz his experience of having to employ trigger warnings during college debate competitions, as well as everyone having to share their preferred gender pronouns before a competition and “gender minority” female-only debate tournaments.
“We’re all gonna die,” Cruz said jokingly, before taking a more serious jab at the practice of “trigger warnings” in general.
“Look, one of the saddest things we’re seeing is our colleges and universities are trying really hard to raise a generation of pansies,” Cruz said.
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“What is this sense that you have a right not to be offended? You have a right not to hear ideas that are scary? Look, the entire purpose of university is to hear ideas that are scary,” the senator continued.
Cruz argued that when he was in university, he had to hear plenty of scary ideas, including those of Marxism.
“When I went to college, when I went to law school, I was surrounded by leftists. I took classes from Marxists. And by the way, I don’t find Marxism just sort of cute and chic,” Cruz said, noting that someone on his hall had a Che Guevara poster and that Cruz sarcastically recommended posters of other “evil, torturing, murderous sons of b*tches,” including Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin.
“I would deliberately sign up to take classes from Marxists,” Cruz said. “ Now, my family has been tortured by communists in Cuba. It’s personal to me, but you know what? Truth is not afraid of lies. The light is not afraid of darkness. It is good for you to confront ideas that scare you.”
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