Empathy for Elementary School - The Tunnel of Oppression for College

For today's college generation, who didn't have the benefit of the empathy classes discussed in yesterday's blog, and who are completely unaware of hardship present on this planet or what they should be doing about it, never fear. We have the Tunnel of Oppression. Started in 1993 at Western Illinois University, The Tunnel is

"an interactive event that highlights contemporary issues of oppression. It is designed to introduce participants to the concepts of oppression, privilege, and power. Participants are guided through a series of scenes that aim to educate and challenge them to think more deeply about issues of oppression. At the end of the tour, participants are provided with the opportunity to discuss their experiences with each other. Facilitators help participants reflect on their experiences and put their newfound knowledge to use in their everyday lives. Before leaving, participants attend a fair where opportunities for involvement in addressing some of the issues presented at the Tunnel are provided."

Perhaps it had good intentions when first started, but today it is a "liberal, left-wing, anti-religious, anti-male, anti-middle class, and anti-white tirade that glorifies the cult of victimization." [comment on Critical Mass] Fox Nation reported that students going through the Tunnel of Oppression recently at DePauw University in Indiana experienced an emotional Disney-esque ride. An RA there reported that she was required to lead students in her dorm through rooms where supposedly “realistic” demonstrations taught lessons such as,

"how religious parents hate their gay children, Muslims would find no friends on a predominantly non-Muslim campus and overweight women suffer from eating disorders.

Indeed, in her training to become an RA, “We were told that ‘human’ was not a suitable identity, but that instead we were first ‘black,’ ‘white,’ or ‘Asian’; ‘male’ or ‘female’; ... ‘heterosexual’ or ‘queer.’ We were forced to act like bigots and spout off stereotypes while being told that that was what we were really thinking deep down.”

Concerns about the real goal of the Tunnel have been around for almost as long as the Tunnel itself . A report from Critical Mass in 2003 said,

The Tunnel of Oppression is a good example of what passes for enlightenment on today's campuses. It is not about disseminating information (not about disseminating true information anyway), or about providing historical context for understanding the conflicts that define our age, but about oversimplifying those conflicts through a disingenuous appeal to our emotions. The Tunnel of Oppression--which proudly casts itself as a "sensory experience"--encourages students not to think rationally about what ails the world, or to inform themselves by learning facts and studying context, or even to take reasoned, principled action against injustice, but to react viscerally to images of violence, to become hysterical on cue.

The Tunnel of Oppression takes the concept of shock value to extremes, using overblown melodrama as an agent of social change, and recruiting people to its cause by subjecting them to simulated short-term trauma--which it then conveniently tells them how to understand in the handy group therapy session that forms the final stop of the tour. It's manipulative, it's anti-intellectual, and it's--paradoxically--every bit as cynical and consumerist as the society it claims to deplore. In a world where instant gratification is all, the Tunnel of Oppression models consciousness-raising on the drive-thru window: offering one-stop awareness for students on the go, it sells convenience as substance, and even packages their reactions in school-sponsored "shrinkwrap." The only question remaining is, Do they include fries with that?

The Tunnel experience is available at hundreds of colleges and universities across the country including both Missouri State and Truman State, and it may be coming to Mizzou. Thank goodness we might be able to save this generation. (end sarc)