Such overreactions are common. So it shouldn't surprise us that students – and the university president – at Michigan State University went absolutely bonkers over what one student reported was a "noose" outside her dorm room.

Every so often, snowflakes on a college campus will become hysterical about what normal people might not even see as problematic. A sign, a banner, graffiti, and even expressions of support for Donald Trump will cause a major emotional crisis on a college campus as students and professors go beyond being offended and become paralyzed with fear.

What happened next was predictable – and hysterically funny.

The "noose" turned out to be a lost package of shoelaces.

Fox News:

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon released a statement Wednesday morning saying she was "distressed" after finding out "a student reported a noose was hung outside of her room." Simon commended the student's "courage" for reporting the "racial incident" and put out a clear message. "This type of behavior is not tolerated on our campus," Simon said. "No Spartan should ever feel targeted based on their race, or other ways in which they identify." But by Wednesday afternoon, the investigation by MSU Police revealed there was no noose. Instead, they found "the object was a packaged leather shoelace and not a noose," MSU spokesman Jason Cody said in a news release, adding that the shoelaces "are packaged in a way that someone could perceive them to look similar to a noose." Officers tracked down and interviewed the student who lost both of the shoelaces. That student happens to live on the same floor as the one who made the report. "Also, the original shoelace found inside the residence hall was not directed at any individual," Cody said, adding that police believe someone found the shoelace and put it on a stairwell door handle after picking it up off the floor.

This sounds eerily similar to an incident that occurred at Delaware State University in 2015, when what appeared to be nooses were strung on trees across campus. After much hand-wringing – and meetings where blacks demanded "justice" – it turns out that the "nooses" were the remains of paper lanterns that had been strung as decorations around campus.

Even after the embarrassing mistake was discovered, the Delaware State president refused to acknowledge the silly reaction:

Interim university President Nancy Targett initially called the appearance of the pieces of string with metal hangers at the end a "deplorable act" and "hateful display" when they were found by a student hanging in trees in front of a campus building Tuesday night. But in a statement posted online around daybreak Wednesday, Targett says the investigation found that the items weren't instruments of a hate crime, but were left over from an event on The Green, a campus open space. Still, Targett says the incident revealed the campus' sensitivity to the potential issue and shows a need for "continuing dialogue." She invited the community to gather Wednesday afternoon.

At one time, we graduated college students who were – to one degree or another – independent thinkers who were, if nothing else, level-headed and had a fairly firm grasp on reality.

Today, we are graduating snowflakes – scared of their own shadow, indoctrinated and brainwashed to distrust reality and substitute emotions for critical thinking. I used to think they'd grow out of this phase once they hit the real world and were forced to find employment. That hope proved false. The next generation of voters will be far more trusting of leaders who play upon their emotional insecurities and confirm their alternate reality regarding race, sex, and other issues that can be exploited by the left.

It is already changing America in ways we all can see.