The full text of the speech held by Lionel Shriver is available here:<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/lionel-shrivers-full-speech-i-hope-the-concept-of-cultural-appropriation-is-a-passing-fad" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/lionel...</a><p>A good read. It's painful to hear that writers of fiction are getting harrowed by well-meaning but obviously misguided activists who believe <i>cultural appropriation</i> is seriously a thing.<p>I'm not surprised — although fascinated — about the way social media has granted these young idealists a platform for their irrational concepts of political correctness taken to the extremes, but I am taken aback about how notions such as <i>safe spaces</i> and <i>trigger warnings</i> have taken hold in academics via the student communities.<p>Is it the fear of being labelled a racist and having your good name tainted on-line by these very vocal activists with a receptive platform of like-minded individuals available at their fingertips that stops people (fellow students and faculty) from simply brushing it off as nonsense?