Imagine you have voiced an opinion on something and it has not gone down well. Someone says they find what you have said upsetting, perhaps because of their own lived experience or a more general sense of it being unfair.

You have two options. You could say: “I’m sorry! I hadn’t thought about the potential impact of my words. I will be more considerate in future.” Or you might reply: “I had anticipated my view might cause some anguish, but I consider your feelings less important than the point I’m trying to make.”

Director of the Institute of Ideas Claire Fox, however, seems instead to have taken a third way. In a series of articles promoting her latest book, I Find That Offensive!, Fox has accused today’s young people, particularly girls, of being a “namby-pamby generation” and behaving like “snowflakes”, who cannot deal with being challenged.

She cites an incident in which she spoke to a group of A-level students about the Ched Evans rape trial, expressing incredulity at their subsequent distress. She goes on to outline her scathing appraisal of today’s teens, accusing them of narcissism and emotional weakness.

Fox stops just short of adding: “You can’t say anything these days! It’s political correctness gone mad!” But one gets the impression it was on the tip of her tongue. Professional agitator Katie Hopkins was, predictably, quick to lend her support.

We live in a time where those who have been historically silenced – the LGBTQ community, the working classes, ethnic minorities, people with mental illnesses – are finally able to stick their heads above the proverbial parapet, even if sometimes this means carving out “safe spaces” where their voices can be heard over the relentless din of consumerist capitalism and patriarchal values. This is something to celebrate – it heralds a time when human beings are more respectful of one another and understand that there is no such thing as “normal”.

The bravery required to call out attitudes one finds distasteful is a trait to be admired. It doesn’t threaten free speech – it broadens debate. It pulls at the threads of our internal fabrics, questions the attitudes and preconceptions we take for granted and asks if there might be a better, kinder way.

Resistance to young people’s collective objection to homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia, transphobia and body shaming, to their sharing of their experiences, to their observation that language has power and is often indicative of subversive and harmful attitudes, while claiming to defend free speech, is the last refuge of those incapable of self-reflection and fearful of change.

One Twitter user beautifully summed this up when they said: “So tired of ppl who don’t recognise millennial behaviour as response to the institutionalised racism/sexism of older generations.”

There is no shame in admitting that words have the power to wound – as Brené Brown noted in her TED talk of 2011, to show emotional vulnerability is actually a sign of strength. Teaching children to suck it up and soldier on, that emotional inauthenticity and swallowing your feelings is the key to success, is incredibly damaging – as our terrifyingly high childhood and adolescent self-harm and suicide rates will attest.

Young people’s contribution to social commentary should never be undervalued. They are rarely motivated by self-interest

I visit schools and interact with an average of 500 teenagers a week, and I know that what many might see as flakiness is actually righteous indignation. Youth naturally allies itself with a tendency to question. While adults often unwittingly reconcile themselves to injustice and prejudice, children and adolescents ask why it should exist in the first place. I find that exciting. I find being in the midst of young people constantly renews my enthusiasm to fight for fairness. It reminds me of a time when the potentially boundless creativity of my mind wasn’t hindered by concerns such as how much tax I have to pay and the inevitability of death.

Young people’s contribution to social commentary should never be undervalued because, when it comes to matters political, they are rarely motivated by self-interest.

The passion that millennials have for a more caring world should be embraced, not beaten into submission with ridicule and contempt. After all, it sometimes feels as though the only things our society has allowed to flourish are new and innovative ways for the 1% to remain privileged. Young people are using their voice to give our culture a kick up the bum and demanding to know why it’s being such a bastard. Often they’re doing it with four simple words, ironically the name of Fox’s book – I find that offensive.

I cannot help but feel that what Fox and others really object to is young people’s right of reply. Social media, for all their many flaws, have given everyone a voice and made a generation of teenagers feel entitled to have an opinion. Young people have told the older generation that they find some of their views offensive and it appears that it’s too “namby-pamby” to cope.