The Closing of the Collegiate Mind

Actually the majority of the student senate at Rutgers supported Rice speaking there. Brandeis likewise was behind the choice until Islamic groups bullied their pick. The Brandeis one is especially troubling to me. Is it better to let a women who fought in the trenches for the rights of Islamic women be silenced by a few Muslim men?

So, do you support suppressing the free-speech rights of people to protest speakers who are being paid to speak out of funds that those people are forced to contribute to?

Would you support Ann Coulter, or Half-Governor Moosemeat speaking at a venue where the overwhelming majority of people don't want them there, but are forced to pay the speaking fee?

The Brandeis example is not about speech...It's the withdrawing of an "honorary degree". Doesn't even sound like it was the students that complained...It was an external group. Apples and oranges.

Signing and submitting petitions = bullying.
Next time I am in a parking lot at any store or concert and sombody asks me to sign a petition, I'll be sure to let them know that they are being bullies.

FredHayek wrote: Is it better to let a women who fought in the trenches for the rights of Islamic women be silenced by a few Muslim men?

Yes because -

Everything since the 1960s has been downhill for conservatism, Republicanism, John Birch Society-ism, ad nauseum... If we could just go back to those halcyon days of the 50's...where women knew their place (the kitchen, the home, the nursery), and properly put their whitebread breadwinners on the appropriate pedestals, all that nasty thuggish behavior wouldn't have happened.

and -

you are defending sexist stereotypes of the 50's. Nice to know you support banning anyone you don't agree with from expressing their free-speech right to protest (someone like a lying warmonger) from speaking.

LadyJazzer wrote:

BlazerBob wrote: But when students in the 1960s began occupying university property like the thugs of regimes America was fighting abroad, the venues gradually reversed.

Well, I think I've found the problem...Everything since the 1960s has been downhill for conservatism, Republicanism, John Birch Society-ism, ad nauseum... If we could just go back to those halcyon days of the 50's...where women knew their place (the kitchen, the home, the nursery), and properly put their whitebread breadwinners on the appropriate pedestals, all that nasty thuggish behavior wouldn't have happened.

So, Fred, you are defending sexist stereotypes of the 50's. Nice to know you support banning anyone you don't agree with from expressing their free-speech right to protest (someone like a lying warmonger) from speaking.

50's really? I wasn't old enough for that. I was old enough in the 1970's to debate the ERA amendment in grade school and I did support it.

Photo-fish wrote: Signing and submitting petitions = bullying.
Next time I am in a parking lot at any store or concert and somebody asks me to sign a petition, I'll be sure to let them know that they are being bullies.

:YeahThat:

Unless, of course, I happen to agree with the petition...like repealing some of the stupidity codified into law at the state level by bigots; or expressing my wish that background checks for gun purchases stay on the books; that charging the buyer for those background checks stay on the books; that people adjudicated in domestic violence cases lose their rights to have a gun; and that magazines that hold more than 10 rounds be banned... THOSE petitions I will sign.



So, whether or not you were old enough in the 50s you admit that you think things have gone downhill since then....

(We can play this "So you admit_____"; "So you are saying _____"; "So you want _____" game all day... You want to put words in people's mouths?... I'm your huckleberry...



#tooinformedtovoterepublican

Photo-fish wrote: Signing and submitting petitions = bullying.
Next time I am in a parking lot at any store or concert and sombody asks me to sign a petition, I'll be sure to let them know that they are being bullies.

Doesn't it really depend on what the petition is calling for?

If you are putting out a petition supporting a tax increase for the JeffCo school district that is probably not bullying. But if you are demanding that "Nuns Against Nuclear War" not be allowed to speak to a JeffCo classroom, I would call that bullying.

FredHayek wrote:

Photo-fish wrote: Signing and submitting petitions = bullying.
Next time I am in a parking lot at any store or concert and sombody asks me to sign a petition, I'll be sure to let them know that they are being bullies.

Doesn't it really depend on what the petition is calling for?

If you are putting out a petition supporting a tax increase for the JeffCo school district that is probably not bullying. But if you are demanding that "Nuns Against Nuclear War" not be allowed to speak to a JeffCo classroom, I would call that bullying.

Just another step towards A Brave New World. Ever hear of Trigger Warnings?

"On college campuses across the country, a growing number of students are demanding trigger warnings on class content. Many instructors are obliging with alerts in handouts and before presentations, even emailing notes of caution ahead of class. At Scripps College, lecturers give warnings before presenting a core curriculum class, the “Histories of the Present: Violence," although some have questioned the value of such alerts when students are still required to attend class. Oberlin College has published an official document on triggers, advising faculty members to "be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other issues of privilege and oppression," to remove triggering material when it doesn't "directly" contribute to learning goals and "strongly consider" developing a policy to make "triggering material" optional. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, it states, is a novel that may "trigger readers who have experienced racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence, suicide and more." Warnings have been proposed even for books long considered suitable material for high-schoolers: Last month, a Rutgers University sophomore suggested that an alert for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby say, "TW: suicide, domestic abuse and graphic violence."...

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1168 ... -thats-bad

This is just another brick in the wall. Speaking of which:

[youtube:wke5ws8g][/youtube:wke5ws8g]

"A mob of angry protesters hijacked a panel discussion at Portland State University, loudly chanting, “We will not be silenced in the face of your violence,” over and over again until organizers had no choice but to cancel the event.

The panel, intended to discuss police brutality, drew the ire of the mob by including Kristian Williams, an anarchist author who has clashed with feminists by suggesting that sexual assault allegations should be studiously investigated, rather than automatically assumed to be true.

That statement was deemed to be hate speech by the mob, who accused him of “survivor-shaming” victims of sexual assault, according to Campus Reform.

“You will be held accountable for all the people who feel unsafe by the words that you choose and say, and the way you cast doubt on people who have survived traumatic issues,” said one protester.

The mob loudly repeated the phrase, “We will not be silenced in the face of your violence,” which had the intended effect of silencing the panelists.

Protesters said that they would only allow the panel discussion to continue if Williams left."...



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/05/12/watch ... z31YaL3oiK

Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: ‘Yell,’ ‘Stand Up And Shout Out,’ ‘Rattle Him’

This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety.

This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.

The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:

Rocking the Town Halls - Best Practices

Tea Bagger Memo

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country for more protests against Democratic members. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now “over.”

And we'd like to thank FreedomWorks for their invaluable assistance in providing the knuckle-draggers their "best practices" to ensure that the "days of civil town halls are now 'over.'”