The moment you give people a little bit of power they'll find a way to abuse it. People can be really petty and spiteful.

What happened at this university is no different from a secretary deliberating forgetting to book a hotel room for the person they like least in the group. No different from the clerk at the DMV sending you to the back of the line because you made a paperwork mistake.

Where is the moral panic about this type of petty nonsense? Nowhere! Because we recognize it's petty nonsense, and not worthy of hand-wringing commentary or a national conversation. But when it comes to students and free speech and safe spaces every news channel and every major magazine is talking about it like it signifies the end of Freedom itself. It's totally absurd.

> Where is the moral panic about this type of petty nonsense?

I think the difference is that petty nonsense on college campuses is publicized and quasi-institutional. If, somehow, a DMV employee was publicly and proudly making people they don't like go to the back of the line, and they had powerful people aligned with them, there would be some outrage.

While a few overzealous activists are not going to end Freedom itself, I (and apparently many others) still want to confront petty nonsense when it begins to institutionalize (by being supported by faculty/admin or influential media members).

>If, somehow, a DMV employee was publicly and proudly making people they don't like go to the back of the line, and they had powerful people aligned with them, there would be some outrage.

What about a county clerk refusing to sign legal marriage certificates for gay couples?

There was huge, massive outrage about that.

Right, I was just illustrating that your hypothetical had a recent, concrete example.

The secretary knows he's doing something wrong.

You'd be amazed at how creative people are at rationalizing their actions.

I've known. It's certainly on display these days.

Oh wow this is very good. I wrote out this long paragraph but you said it much better and more succintly.