“When did everyone become such a colossal p****? Having your beliefs challenged is as American as apple pie.” This was a statement made by Adam Carolla, a comedian podcaster, who is the director of the upcoming documentary called “No Safe Spaces”. Carolla is working with author Dennis Prager to explore the idea of creating “safe spaces” on college campuses. They just recently opened their crowdfunding page to raise funds for their project.
Background for the film
The film is being produced by Mark Joseph, whose most recent projects include “The Vessel” and “Max Rose.” Justin Folk of Madison McQueen Films will be directing.
Folk is making his debut as a film director, having previously done visual effects work for movies like “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Matrix.”
Carolla and Prager have regularly teamed up, but the duo has little in common. While Carolla is a podcaster, Prager is an author and has been on national radio. Carolla is an atheist with no college education. On the other hand, Prager is a devout Jew who went to Columbia University graduate school. On the strange pairing, Carolla quipped, “He’s Ivy League and I’m bush league, but it works.”
Carolla and Prager’s documentary seems to be spurred by the reaction across college campuses after Donald Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 8. Universities across the country canceled classes and set up “safe spaces” where students could share their views and fears about the new president-elect without facing opposition.
One dorm on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus set up a “breathing space,” which included coloring books, snacks, and a comfort dog.
“Universities have become a laughingstock,” Prager stated, “When prestigious institutions of rigorous academic instruction give out coloring books and Play-Doh to 20-year-old students in designated safe-space areas on campus, we are failing them.”
Carolla and Prager are aiming to bring the spotlight onto the growing issue of safe spaces on college campuses.
It feels as though students everywhere are demanding their right to safe spaces. But what do these safe spaces really entail? They are a space where students feel emotionally safe, where they don’t have to face the criticism of the world. In a survey conducted by LendEDU, 36 percent of college students say that safe spaces are “absolutely necessary”.
Safe Spaces on college campuses
Van Jones, an American political and civil rights activist, said this about safe spaces, “It’s a horrible view, which is that ‘I need to be safe ideologically, I need to be safe emotionally, I just need to feel good all the time. And if someone else says something that I don’t like, that is a problem for everyone else…”
During the commencement at Notre Dame on May 21, several graduates were seen walking out during the commencement speech by Vice President Mike Pence. The grads’ generally stated reason for walking out was that Pence made people feel “unwelcome, uncomfortable and unsafe,” according to grad Aniela Tyksinski who appeared on CNN. Pence invaded their Safe Space.
At Wellesley College, six professors recently proposed setting up a committee to make sure that invited speakers would not bring in ideas or speech that would be harmful or offensive to disempowered groups. They state that bringing in “guest speakers with controversial and objectionable beliefs impose[d] on the liberty of students, staff, and faculty at Wellesley.”
Hitting the road
If Carolla and Prager want to dive into the safe spaces of American colleges, they have any number to choose from. They are starting off on their cross-country road trip to “show you how so many terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ideas have ruined college for young people and now threaten to ruin the country by creating a nation of precious snowflakes who are scared of their own shadows.”
In a recently released promo for their film (shown below), Carolla and Prager depict “Utopia U,” which is a fantasy college “not based in reality but on your reality.” In it, they poke fun at how colleges encourage students to be whoever they want -- as long as they think “the right way.” One kid even says, “Everything your parents taught you is wrong.”
Calling American campuses “the most dangerous place for ideas and debate,” Carolla and Prager are gearing up for battle because they intend to bring about a lot of debate. What more could you expect from the duo that Carolla affectionately calls “an old Jew and a middle-aged Italian”?
