If there’s a political movement that doesn’t have embarrassing, radical fringes, I’ve never seen it. I don’t judge all right-wingers by the neo-Nazis and Dominionists, and you shouldn’t judge all left-wingers by these anti-speech clowns.
How many people remember a 1970s free speech case involving William Shockley?
Shockley was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who later in life came down with a bad case of Nobel Disease (the tendency among some celebrated scientists to go outside their fields of expertise and espouse dubious to downright ludicrous beliefs). Shockley became interested (or obsessed) with the idea that blacks had inferior intelligence based on genetics. At least one of his campus appearances (at Yale) was marked by students shouting him down. The administration countered by announcing the suspension of a dozen students and placing them on probation when they returned.
*"A Yale spokesman said the executive committee considered the 12 students to be the leaders of the disruption. The actions of the committee are subject to review by the Yale Corporation.
In suspending the students, the executive committee said the students’ actions placed them “outside the voluntary association of persons dedicated to the free expression of all views.”*
What a revolutionary idea. Too bad colleges and universities don’t seem to be exhibiting the same spine currently.*
Well the main point was you’re not going to a reason with a person who has made a career from a baseless claim. It’s ridiculous to think there is a potential for debate (i.e. chess) when the whole event is just checkers, or pro-wrestling, or live action trolling.
Ethics. Morality. My God given right as an American.
My answer to that depends on who’s doing preventing people from speaking?
Reverse trolling, if you have the right attitude, is actually quite fun. I would personally enjoy yelling at one of these right wing fascist types until they sulked off the stage. The other option is to ignore them. Debating a troll is stupid.
I’d appreciate it if you just get to your point.
I don’t click on links without knowing the content. The Republican student groups certainly are trolls. The protesters are not much different.
Again, this discussion is not about the violence that has accompanied some of these events. Most of this behavior occurs without violence. For example, I’ve never seen anyone get hurt during the protests that often occur at Congressional hearings on CSPAN. Continuously attempting to associate the discussion of a tactic, its ethics and consequences with the violence that sometimes occurs is unfair rhetorically.
According to the Wiki on the Berkeley Free Speech movement, there was a backlash against the Leftist protesters that led to Reagan as governor of California. Yet here it is that conservatives are very concerned about political speech on campus. Time will tell if this tactic becomes more commonplace. My guess is that it is already everywhere but since the Leftist students are doing it then suddenly it’s a problem.
Is there case law showing a mob, acting independent of the government, was found to be legally violating the freedom of religion?
Please stop bringing violence into this topic.
I think this is the crux of the problem. The campuses are not adequately enforcing their rules.
You know full well what my point is. I’ve made it several times. I’m not going to waste any more time repeating myself because it’s clear, at this point, that you have absolutely zero interest whatsoever in engaging with people who hold opposing views on this subject, and that you only care about “winning” the argument. I’m out. Life’s too short for this nonsense. Feel free to have the last word.
What I’d like to know is where are the college professors in this? Arent they supposed to be leading the students and setting an example? I mean if they feel at home denouncing Trump in their classrooms, why not denounce stupid behavior? Years ago at Kent State it was some brave professors who stood between guardsmen with guns and rioting students who helped stop the shooting.
During the Middlebury College incident they had a plan for the protest that seemed to work. The professors involved attempted to teach the students about listening to people you do not agree with and one was injured protecting Murray from a few who wanted to be violent. They’re there but it doesn’t mean they can prevent everything.
Well… Professor Melissa Click can be seen on video during the Mizzou protests, calling for some ‘muscle’ to stop the horrible scourge of people taking photographs in a public place. During the Berkeley riot, the guy who was swinging a bike lock at the heads of Republicans appears to be a professor of ethics at Canton College. Assault charges have been filed against him.
Not quite the same thing as stepping in to protect people, but you know…different times.
Personally, I think the best approach is to go to the speech but then sit quietly through its entire duration, playing games on your cell phone or texting. At random intervals, raise your fist and shout “Yeah! Whoo!” without lifting your eyes from your cell phone, regardless of what has just been spoken on the stage.
Someone should explain to these students that right wing figures want to complain about being martyrs of liberal intolerance to their conservative audiences. Also, the Streisand effect. I never heard of Jordan Peterson before this.
When I was in college in the early 1990’s, David Duke (former KKK Grand Wizard) was running for Governor of Louisiana. We hosted his speech at Tulane in a civil manner. Approximately 0% of the audience were white supremacists but they listened and asked pointed questions. THE END.
There was a small protest outside and I even wrote a letter to the college newspaper that was published basically calling them a bunch of retards in the kindest sense of the word. All they had to do was face their adversary, ask intelligent questions and have firm rebuttals. That should be easy for anyone that is smart as they think they are. I had no idea at the time that things would escalate exponentially in just two decades.
Instead, we get enough chaos, intimidation, violence and destruction that would make a troop of monkeys blush (presumably on their ass).
I find it really disappointing that American citizens don’t understand the Constitution and the concept of free speech intuitively. To tell you the truth, the more I read the comments, it sounds like explaining higher math to a bunch of people that simply don’t have the brain horsepower to comprehend it. You can try to explain the basic concepts but, in the end, you either get it or you don’t.
For reference, I would support any free speech movement in my community no matter the subject as long as they are civil. That is what it means.