One paragraph -- three fallacies

One paragraph, three fallacies -- you go girl:

"[1]In this case, [students are] only repeating what they've been taught. [2] For years, they have been told that discrimination is the highest crime of all. [3] Today, this is commonly interpreted to mean that everybody has the right to be free from any kind of insult, upset, or perturbation that might pose a challenge to their peace of mind ..."

1. On the basis of nearly 20 years of teaching at 3 different universities, I can assure you that that very few students are inclined to simply accept as gospel truth whatever their professors tell them. And most of them would be insulted by the suggestion.

2. I am sure that many professors have told their students that unwarranted discrimination -- i.e., that not based on relevant differences -- is a bad thing. It is, after all, a bad thing. But the "highest crime of all" -- worse than rape, murder, genocide? That's just crazy talk. Even if the odd professor has made a claim along these lines, it would almost certainly be hyperbole.

3. Even if discrimination were the highest crime -- which it isn't -- that wouldn't entail that any insult, etc. counts as discrimination. Issues having to do with the nature of discrimination are simply orthogonal to issues having to do with the seriousness of discrimination. Even if the "common" interpretation is common, it's certainly not well motivated. And, well, probably not very common either.