In many classrooms, the issue of emotional legitimization is often forgotten, but in the distance education setting, two limitations highlight this issue even more. The distance education classroom lacks proximity and eye contact, which are pedagogically important as they prompt anxiety in students and draw them into learning. Rather than leading students toward active engagement, the distance education classroom leads them to a state of emotional paralysis. Distance education is not necessarily a total failure. Rather, it prompts the question: What type of inquiry is legitimized in education which reinforces emotional acquiescence at best or induces emotional paralysis at worst? Teachers should acknowledge and work through anxiety, because legitimizing anxiety can keep students from becoming paralyzed or entrenched in dominant definitions of subjectivity. (EF)