[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: More on Columbia University and free speech...

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Mary Madigan:
More on Columbia University and free speech...
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1160666254.shtml


   ..and the left-wing shutdown of free speech during the Minuteman
   Protests, via [1]Yahoo

     Everything you really need to know about the protesters is
     contained in this sentence: "Shame on the College Republicans for
     inviting this fascist thug and provoking such outrage on our
     campus." In other words, the act of inviting a controversial
     speaker is worse than violence against that speaker...oh, and the
     speaker must be a "fascist thug" because he doesn't agree with the
     writer's left-wing sensibilities which are typical of Columbia
     students.

     Her protests that "this is not an issue of free speech" makes it
     all that much clearer that that is exactly what the issue is. The
     protesters do not have an "equal right" to shout down a speaker,
     much less to assault him or his entourage. The right answer...the
     only answer acceptable in our country...is to let him speak and
     then set up your own event to tell everyone why he was wrong.

     The Spectator's editorial was no better: Claims that the University
     somehow is not getting "fair representation" falls into the same
     trap of moral equivalence between unpopular speech and violence.
     From my family's experience at Columbia, this type of appalling
     behavior by Columbia students is not "an unfortunate exception" but
     rather an all too common occurrence.

     It is a remarkable thing about liberals (or, at Columbia, outright
     leftists) in free societies: They are far more intolerant than
     conservatives. The protesters hate people who oppose illegal
     immigration. They accept the use of intimidation and violence to
     keep such people from speaking, then blame the victim for having
     been controversial. Conservatives generally don't hate people for
     their views even if those views are as wrong-headed as those of
     many (or, in my experience, most) Columbia students.

     The beauty of America is that we have an open political market.
     People of all views are free to speak, to be a touchstone for
     debate, and then to win or lose in the court of public opinion and
     at the ballot box.

     Unlike the claims of the Spectator's editorial, mainstream news
     outlets have "depicted the Columbia atmosphere accurately." Wishing
     that the atmosphere were otherwise does not make it so.

     Throughout all the years that my family and friends have attended
     Columbia, it has repeatedly represented itself as a truly illiberal
     institution, in a way that only the most "liberal" institutions
     can. The students live in a world which would make Orwell shudder:
     speech can justify violence, economic conservatives are called
     "fascists", and any talk the students disagree with is labeled
     "hate speech".

     In this way and others, Columbia represents everything that is
     wrong with the far left in America today, and I am proud to say
     that while I do give money to a college, it is not to Columbia.

   Personally, I don't agree with the Minuteman project. Borders should
   be effectively patrolled, but they should be patrolled by the
   government. Whether they intend to do this or not, the Minuteman
   project is seen as confrontational by Hispanic population. Hispanics
   are a vital and important group in our society, they contribute a lot
   to our culture and we share a hemisphere with them. Let's try to get
   along.

   That said, the antics of the Columbia students make me wonder how much
   of the opposition to the Minuteman project comes from ordinary
   Hispanics, and how much comes from disgruntled
   Stalinists/Chomskyites/Chavistas on the Left. What are they going to
   do next, jump on stage and scream "I smell sulphur!!"?

   Setting up phony 'people's revolutions', demanding pacifism from the
   West while encouraging violence among disgruntled privileged yuppie
   spawn (third world or not) is how the Left fights their ideolgical
   wars.

   There's something very disingenuous going on here.

References

   1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20061010/cm_rcp/columbia_students_represent_wo