Stephen Fry has launched an attack on the wave of student censoriousness sweeping campuses, labeling it “stupid” and infantile.
The British actor and comedian criticized trigger warnings, safe spaces and attempts by college activists to re-write the past by pulling down statues and scrubbing contentious figures out of history.
Fry made the comments in an appearance on The Rubin Report, which went viral.
The TV and film stalwart often comes across as a left-wing luvvie, but didn’t mince his words in saying the values of the United States are under attack.
He told host Dave Rubin: “One fears that the advances of the enlightenment are being systemically and deliberately pushed back.”
As one example he took the campaign to tear down a statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University, which he said was inspired by similar battles in the US.
He said: “We fear that it’s going to happen more and more because America leads and Britain follows in all kinds of ways.” He blamed “a deep infantilism” in today’s campus culture.
The interview also sparked a backlash after he criticized trigger warnings and bans on literature for fear they would stir traumatic memories in sensitive readers.
Referring to “triggered” readers, he said: “You get some of my sympathy – but your self pity gets none of my sympathy.
“Self pity is the ugliest emotion in humanity. Get rid of it, because no one’s going to like you if you feel sorry for yourself.”
