A New York Times journalist denounced the use of words like "microaggression" on college campuses, saying on MSNBC Thursday that it was turning kids into "wusses."
Times reporter and MSNBC contributor Jeremy Peters's remarks came after Times columnist Bari Weiss joined"Morning Joe" for a discussion about her most recent column, which cautioned liberals that labeling all opponents "fascist" could backfire. Later on during the show's final segment, Peters and USA Today journalist Susan Page returned to the subject.
"The trouble with throwing around a word like ‘fascist’ to people who don't deserve it, is that if you meet an actual fascist, you have watered down the power of that word," Page said. "Words matter."
"Words do matter," agreed Peters. "Just think about the way that we now tar people on college campuses, and a lot of times talk about speech as a form of aggression."
"That term ‘microaggression,’ that you are actually wounding someone, it's totally changed the way that we interact with one another," he concluded, "and really, I think made wusses out of our college kids."