The Death of Free Speech

[DigitalDrifter]

Free speech used to be alive and well on any campus across America. Now they're places to run and hide at, and demand "safe spaces" to protect ears from someone else's opinions.


"College campuses in general—and Berkeley in particular—used to be places where diverse opinions could be heard and debated. Alas, no more."

The University of California at Berkeley is synonymous with free speech—or at least used to be. The home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960’s just succumbed to the latest campus effort to shut down unpopular views.

Last week University officials cancelled a speech by conservative performance artist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos after protestors turned violent. The rioters, led by 50-75 “Black Bloc” anarchists, destroyed property, shattered windows in university buildings and neighboring stores, set fires, attacked campus police, and set upon suspected Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.

Claiming they could not safely protect the speaker or those who wanted to hear him, campus administrators “reluctantly” cancelled the event. Given Mr. Yiannopoulos’ posturing and provocateur’s persona—which runs counter to the prevailing political positions on the Berkeley campus—the administration’s capitulation to mob rule was not terribly surprising. But it was depressing: a bedrock principal of the First Amendment is the unlawfulness of the “heckler’s veto.”


The irony of course, is that Yiannopoulos’ message got far more attention than it would have had it been heard only by the handful of students who wanted to attend his speech. The Observer’s Ryan Holiday, who literally helped write the book on this phenomenon, pointed this out in an op-ed in these pages. As New York Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Nadine Strossen pointed out to the Observer:

“The violent protesters who succeeded in stifling Milo’s talk at Berkeley also succeeded in enormously magnifying the circulation and impact of his discriminatory message, hardly a net gain in the important battle to counter his venomous ideology. The basic point is that censorship is doubly flawed. It violates everyone’s free speech rights – those of the willing audience members, as well as the speaker – but it doesn’t effectively suppress the objectionable ideas; to the contrary, it broadcasts them to a larger audience, and generates more sympathy for the speaker.”

The Death of Free Speech

 

[Mac1958]

Free speech used to be alive and well on any campus across America. Now they're places to run and hide at, and demand "safe spaces" to protect ears from someone else's opinions.


"College campuses in general—and Berkeley in particular—used to be places where diverse opinions could be heard and debated. Alas, no more."

The University of California at Berkeley is synonymous with free speech—or at least used to be. The home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960’s just succumbed to the latest campus effort to shut down unpopular views.

Last week University officials cancelled a speech by conservative performance artist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos after protestors turned violent. The rioters, led by 50-75 “Black Bloc” anarchists, destroyed property, shattered windows in university buildings and neighboring stores, set fires, attacked campus police, and set upon suspected Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.

Claiming they could not safely protect the speaker or those who wanted to hear him, campus administrators “reluctantly” cancelled the event. Given Mr. Yiannopoulos’ posturing and provocateur’s persona—which runs counter to the prevailing political positions on the Berkeley campus—the administration’s capitulation to mob rule was not terribly surprising. But it was depressing: a bedrock principal of the First Amendment is the unlawfulness of the “heckler’s veto.”


The irony of course, is that Yiannopoulos’ message got far more attention than it would have had it been heard only by the handful of students who wanted to attend his speech. The Observer’s Ryan Holiday, who literally helped write the book on this phenomenon, pointed this out in an op-ed in these pages. As New York Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Nadine Strossen pointed out to the Observer:

“The violent protesters who succeeded in stifling Milo’s talk at Berkeley also succeeded in enormously magnifying the circulation and impact of his discriminatory message, hardly a net gain in the important battle to counter his venomous ideology. The basic point is that censorship is doubly flawed. It violates everyone’s free speech rights – those of the willing audience members, as well as the speaker – but it doesn’t effectively suppress the objectionable ideas; to the contrary, it broadcasts them to a larger audience, and generates more sympathy for the speaker.”

The Death of Free Speech

We'll see. There are some signs, here and there, that there are honest liberals who are looking at what's happening and realizing it's wrong.

There's also a clear national backlash against this, thankfully, and there's a decent chance that it will continue and expand.

The Regressive Left has gone too far, too many times. That's a part of the reason Trump is in the White House, but they won't admit to it.

There's nothing more American than freedom of speech and expression, and these people are on the wrong side. They have become what they used to loathe.
.

 

[irosie91]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

 

[Mac1958]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

 

[irosie91]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

because there is a lot of crap going on in American society RIGHT NOW------reminds me of the
marijuana/LSD haze of the 60s

 

[DigitalDrifter]

‘Colleges have become a place where they want everyone to look different but think the same.’

 

[gipper]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

 

[irosie91]

‘Colleges have become a place where they want everyone to look different but think the same.’

colleges have been getting PROGRESSIVELY disgusting since about 1968

 

[irosie91]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

nothing new-----just getting worse and worse--------I was there when it started----1968----the only two
good years were 66 and 67. 50 years of campus filth and counting

 

[gipper]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

nothing new-----just getting worse and worse--------I was there when it started----1968----the only two
good years were 66 and 67. 50 years of campus filth and counting

Agreed, but it is much worse now. I was there in the late 70s and do not remember radical leftism taking over. Yeah leftism was promoted, but it was not out of control as it is today.

My son's experience on campus in the late 2000s, was entirely different from mine. He experienced radical leftism every day.

 

[irosie91]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

nothing new-----just getting worse and worse--------I was there when it started----1968----the only two
good years were 66 and 67. 50 years of campus filth and counting

Agreed, but it is much worse now. I was there in the late 70s and do not remember radical leftism taking over. Yeah leftism was promoted, but it was not out of control as it is today.

My son's experience on campus in the late 2000s, was entirely different from mine. He experienced radical leftism every day.

my son dropped out of city college for its INSANITY-------"ma---you wouldn't believe the idiot speech
I heard today"

 

[Ozone]

All the people in these colleges need to be rounded up and put into libertarian re-education camps.

 

[gipper]

free speech does not include FREE EXPRESSION BY HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE AND
VANDALISM AND INTIMIDATION

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

nothing new-----just getting worse and worse--------I was there when it started----1968----the only two
good years were 66 and 67. 50 years of campus filth and counting

Agreed, but it is much worse now. I was there in the late 70s and do not remember radical leftism taking over. Yeah leftism was promoted, but it was not out of control as it is today.

My son's experience on campus in the late 2000s, was entirely different from mine. He experienced radical leftism every day.

my son dropped out of city college for its INSANITY-------"ma---you wouldn't believe the idiot speech
I heard today"

I would bet your son's experience is very common. The Left perverts nearly everything they touch.

One bright spot...the Left has yet to destroy the engineering schools. My son went to one of the top public engineering schools in the country, and he said his classes were devoid of leftism. He loved it...but when he walked on campus or was approached in his dorm, leftism was everywhere.

 

[irosie91]

True, so why does this keep happening on our college campuses when some right winger is booked to speak there?

Why is it excused and even enabled?
.

Because the Left is in control and they are Fascists.

nothing new-----just getting worse and worse--------I was there when it started----1968----the only two
good years were 66 and 67. 50 years of campus filth and counting

Agreed, but it is much worse now. I was there in the late 70s and do not remember radical leftism taking over. Yeah leftism was promoted, but it was not out of control as it is today.

My son's experience on campus in the late 2000s, was entirely different from mine. He experienced radical leftism every day.

my son dropped out of city college for its INSANITY-------"ma---you wouldn't believe the idiot speech
I heard today"

I would bet your son's experience is very common. The Left perverts nearly everything they touch.

One bright spot...the Left has yet to destroy the engineering schools. My son went to one of the top public engineering schools in the country, and he said his classes were devoid of leftism. He loved it...but when he walked on campus or was approached in his dorm, leftism was everywhere.

I am not sure what "left" means. I am a registered democrat-----but did not vote for Obama
the second time around------my kid was MIFFED over that BETRAYAL.------I would not call the
college kids "LEFT" just NUTS. My kid was engineering too. His experience was OUT on the CAMPUS-----speeches and pamphlets

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Free speech used to be alive and well on any campus across America. Now they're places to run and hide at, and demand "safe spaces" to protect ears from someone else's opinions.


"College campuses in general—and Berkeley in particular—used to be places where diverse opinions could be heard and debated. Alas, no more."

The University of California at Berkeley is synonymous with free speech—or at least used to be. The home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960’s just succumbed to the latest campus effort to shut down unpopular views.

Last week University officials cancelled a speech by conservative performance artist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos after protestors turned violent. The rioters, led by 50-75 “Black Bloc” anarchists, destroyed property, shattered windows in university buildings and neighboring stores, set fires, attacked campus police, and set upon suspected Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.

Claiming they could not safely protect the speaker or those who wanted to hear him, campus administrators “reluctantly” cancelled the event. Given Mr. Yiannopoulos’ posturing and provocateur’s persona—which runs counter to the prevailing political positions on the Berkeley campus—the administration’s capitulation to mob rule was not terribly surprising. But it was depressing: a bedrock principal of the First Amendment is the unlawfulness of the “heckler’s veto.”


The irony of course, is that Yiannopoulos’ message got far more attention than it would have had it been heard only by the handful of students who wanted to attend his speech. The Observer’s Ryan Holiday, who literally helped write the book on this phenomenon, pointed this out in an op-ed in these pages. As New York Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Nadine Strossen pointed out to the Observer:

“The violent protesters who succeeded in stifling Milo’s talk at Berkeley also succeeded in enormously magnifying the circulation and impact of his discriminatory message, hardly a net gain in the important battle to counter his venomous ideology. The basic point is that censorship is doubly flawed. It violates everyone’s free speech rights – those of the willing audience members, as well as the speaker – but it doesn’t effectively suppress the objectionable ideas; to the contrary, it broadcasts them to a larger audience, and generates more sympathy for the speaker.”

The Death of Free Speech

We'll see. There are some signs, here and there, that there are honest liberals who are looking at what's happening and realizing it's wrong.

There's also a clear national backlash against this, thankfully, and there's a decent chance that it will continue and expand.

The Regressive Left has gone too far, too many times. That's a part of the reason Trump is in the White House, but they won't admit to it.

There's nothing more American than freedom of speech and expression, and these people are on the wrong side. They have become what they used to loathe.
.

But will it ever jump the shark, when you have a fresh batch of students coming in every year, eager to take up the lefts cause ?

 

[Mac1958]

Free speech used to be alive and well on any campus across America. Now they're places to run and hide at, and demand "safe spaces" to protect ears from someone else's opinions.


"College campuses in general—and Berkeley in particular—used to be places where diverse opinions could be heard and debated. Alas, no more."

The University of California at Berkeley is synonymous with free speech—or at least used to be. The home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960’s just succumbed to the latest campus effort to shut down unpopular views.

Last week University officials cancelled a speech by conservative performance artist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos after protestors turned violent. The rioters, led by 50-75 “Black Bloc” anarchists, destroyed property, shattered windows in university buildings and neighboring stores, set fires, attacked campus police, and set upon suspected Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.

Claiming they could not safely protect the speaker or those who wanted to hear him, campus administrators “reluctantly” cancelled the event. Given Mr. Yiannopoulos’ posturing and provocateur’s persona—which runs counter to the prevailing political positions on the Berkeley campus—the administration’s capitulation to mob rule was not terribly surprising. But it was depressing: a bedrock principal of the First Amendment is the unlawfulness of the “heckler’s veto.”


The irony of course, is that Yiannopoulos’ message got far more attention than it would have had it been heard only by the handful of students who wanted to attend his speech. The Observer’s Ryan Holiday, who literally helped write the book on this phenomenon, pointed this out in an op-ed in these pages. As New York Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Nadine Strossen pointed out to the Observer:

“The violent protesters who succeeded in stifling Milo’s talk at Berkeley also succeeded in enormously magnifying the circulation and impact of his discriminatory message, hardly a net gain in the important battle to counter his venomous ideology. The basic point is that censorship is doubly flawed. It violates everyone’s free speech rights – those of the willing audience members, as well as the speaker – but it doesn’t effectively suppress the objectionable ideas; to the contrary, it broadcasts them to a larger audience, and generates more sympathy for the speaker.”

The Death of Free Speech

We'll see. There are some signs, here and there, that there are honest liberals who are looking at what's happening and realizing it's wrong.

There's also a clear national backlash against this, thankfully, and there's a decent chance that it will continue and expand.

The Regressive Left has gone too far, too many times. That's a part of the reason Trump is in the White House, but they won't admit to it.

There's nothing more American than freedom of speech and expression, and these people are on the wrong side. They have become what they used to loathe.
.

But will it ever jump the shark, when you have a fresh batch of students coming in every year, eager to take up the lefts cause ?

Completely? I doubt it. But I'd consider it a victory if opposing views could make it in.
.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

Free speech used to be alive and well on any campus across America. Now they're places to run and hide at, and demand "safe spaces" to protect ears from someone else's opinions.


"College campuses in general—and Berkeley in particular—used to be places where diverse opinions could be heard and debated. Alas, no more."

The University of California at Berkeley is synonymous with free speech—or at least used to be. The home of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960’s just succumbed to the latest campus effort to shut down unpopular views.

Last week University officials cancelled a speech by conservative performance artist and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos after protestors turned violent. The rioters, led by 50-75 “Black Bloc” anarchists, destroyed property, shattered windows in university buildings and neighboring stores, set fires, attacked campus police, and set upon suspected Trump and Yiannopoulos supporters.

Claiming they could not safely protect the speaker or those who wanted to hear him, campus administrators “reluctantly” cancelled the event. Given Mr. Yiannopoulos’ posturing and provocateur’s persona—which runs counter to the prevailing political positions on the Berkeley campus—the administration’s capitulation to mob rule was not terribly surprising. But it was depressing: a bedrock principal of the First Amendment is the unlawfulness of the “heckler’s veto.”


The irony of course, is that Yiannopoulos’ message got far more attention than it would have had it been heard only by the handful of students who wanted to attend his speech. The Observer’s Ryan Holiday, who literally helped write the book on this phenomenon, pointed this out in an op-ed in these pages. As New York Law School Professor of Constitutional Law Nadine Strossen pointed out to the Observer:

“The violent protesters who succeeded in stifling Milo’s talk at Berkeley also succeeded in enormously magnifying the circulation and impact of his discriminatory message, hardly a net gain in the important battle to counter his venomous ideology. The basic point is that censorship is doubly flawed. It violates everyone’s free speech rights – those of the willing audience members, as well as the speaker – but it doesn’t effectively suppress the objectionable ideas; to the contrary, it broadcasts them to a larger audience, and generates more sympathy for the speaker.”

The Death of Free Speech

We'll see. There are some signs, here and there, that there are honest liberals who are looking at what's happening and realizing it's wrong.

There's also a clear national backlash against this, thankfully, and there's a decent chance that it will continue and expand.

The Regressive Left has gone too far, too many times. That's a part of the reason Trump is in the White House, but they won't admit to it.

There's nothing more American than freedom of speech and expression, and these people are on the wrong side. They have become what they used to loathe.
.

But will it ever jump the shark, when you have a fresh batch of students coming in every year, eager to take up the lefts cause ?

Completely? I doubt it. But I'd consider it a victory if opposing views could make it in.
.

I hope it happens, but I've always said the day will come when just BEING a Republican will be a hate crime.
The modern American campus is where that drumbeat will start.