Thread: Why the left fears free speech on campus

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_o ... 8715c.html

Why the left fears free speech on campus

Be Our Guest

By DAVID FRENCH

In an incident that is rapidly becoming famous even among people who don't follow the campus culture wars, leftist activists stormed the stage at Columbia University this month and triggered a wild melee during a speech by Jim Gilchrist, the controversial founder of the Minuteman Project.

The incident was shocking enough, but it cannot be viewed in isolation. The mob at Morningside Heights is just another piece of gathering evidence that the '60s are returning to campus.

It's a dangerous turn to an era not of "peace and love," but a step closer to the violence and threats that dominated campuses throughout much of the Vietnam War.

Consider this: In the spring, anti-war protesters blocked access to a job fair at the University of California-Santa Cruz and caused Army and National Guard recruiters to be escorted off campus by university police. According to one recruiter, "the situation had degraded" to such an extent that the recruiters feared for the safety of students and law enforcement officers..

Prominent conservatives like David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, Bill Kristol and Pat Buchanan have been attacked with pies and salad dressing during on-campus speeches. At UC-San Francisco, a crowd of students blocked access to and scuffled with College Republicans whose crime was merely handing out flyers to students. At Washington State, protesters disrupted, shouted down and threatened actors in a satirical play.

After a period of relative calm in the 1990s, one must ask why we have seen a rise in violent acts of censorship and intimidation by the campus left.

The war in Iraq is to blame for some of the violence, but the violence and threats encompass broader topics and represent an expression of rage and impotence - not the '60s expression of rage and power.

The protesters hide behind tactics of the '60s to lash out helplessly at a culture that seems (to them) to be inexorably moving right. With every branch of government in conservative hands, with the rise of conservative media and with the increasing influence of religious conservatives, the radical left feels under siege. To make matters worse, the conservative movement is now taking aim at the left's last cultural bastion - the nation's colleges and universities - in an effort to reopen the marketplace of ideas on campus.

In the '60s, the excesses of campus radicals eventually led to a cultural backlash that ushered in the Reagan era. These same excesses committed in an era of blogs, YouTube downloads and talk radio lead to a much more immediate response. So, rather than reveling in last week's momentary triumph, Columbia's leftist radicals find themselves on the defensive, blaming others for the violence and begging the administration not to search the Internet for clues about the protesters' identities.

In the battle for the hearts and minds of the public, they have already lost.

French is the director of the Alliance Defense Fund's Center for Academic Freedom.

Originally published on October 15, 2006

What?

The attackers are 'Reconquistas' and do NOT want people hearing the facts. Freedom of speech, evidently exists ONLY for them.

http://www.aztlan.net/minutemen_lear...t_columbia.htm

La Voz de Aztlan Editorial
Los Angeles, Alta California
October 10, 2006

Minutemen Vigilantes Learn Some Lessons at Columbia University
On October 2, 2006, the Minutemen vigilantes issued a press release entitled "Minuteman Project Heads for College; Founder Invited to Speak at Columbia University". The speaking engagement did not turn out as the vigilantes expected. When they arrived at the university's Roone Arledge Auditorium on October 4, 2006, the students taught them two lessons that hopefully they will never forget. Just as vigilante James Gilchrist had completed his first rant against Mexican immigrants, the students rose up and approached the podium. Gilchrist was then forced off the stage and had to be escorted off the campus. He was essentially "deported" from the university.

The first lesson that the vigilantes learned is that there is a great difference between "free speech" and "hate speech". Hate speech directed against ethnic, racial, national or religious groups has no place in institutions of higher learning. The students at Columbia were righteous in standing up against the Minutemen vigilantes and what they represent. The morally courageous action of the students at Columbia should serve as a good example for other colleges and universities of what to do when confronted by racist hatemongers on their campuses. Students at Columbia University have a very honorable tradition of standing up against racism and social injustice. Their brave actions against the racist Vietnam War in 1968 will forever be remembered.

The second lesson that the Minutemen vigilantes learned is that no human being is an "illegal" alien. All human beings are endowed by God with certain rights and are free to travel the globe in search of shelter and food for themselves and their families. The pilgrims had that right when they ventured from England and landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The native Americans did not act as vigilantes against the newly arrived pilgrims but instead helped them survive their first winter. Today we have the hateful Minutemen vigilantes patrolling the US/Mexico border hunting for Mexican migrant workers as if they were "aliens" from outer space. Many bodies of Mexican migrants have been found in the desert along the border with bullet holes through their heads. There is no question that many of the dead were victims of border vigilantes. God bless the students of Columbia University for their moral courage to stand up against the evil that the Minutemen represent.

Presently, the USA is at a great juncture and many doubt whether the nation will survive. Americans with Minutemen mentalities are to blame. These people are destroying the country from within. They are turning the whole world against the nation. The USA is being surrounded by enemies while the country putrefies from inside. Young girls shot in the head at an Amish school and a homosexual congressman preying on underage congressional pages are all symptoms of the decay. The only hope for the USA will be if more young people like those at Columbia rise up and say, "We had enough", "Ya basta".

This is the 'WHY'.

Many bodies of Mexican migrants have been found in the desert along the border with bullet holes through their heads. There is no question that many of the dead were victims of border vigilantes.

They are accusing the Minutemen of murder! This is outrageous! These people are just plain evil!!

They reacted this way because they know they cannot win.

D.W.

It's all just more evidence that the Left has dangerously moved into an area of presumed moral superiority of the sort that believes the "righteous" ends justify the immoral means. This indicates what I and many other concerned Americans have been saying is true: that Liberalism/Leftism is moving or has moved from a political orientation and into a secularist dogmatic religion.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

We should start something like "la raza promotes discrimination"

Gofer quoted

[quote]Quote:
Many bodies of Mexican migrants have been found in the desert along the border with bullet holes through their heads. There is no question that many of the dead were victims of border vigilantes.[quote]

It sounds like they want to incite people to violence. They are definately the radical extremists and not the Minutemen!

Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost

It's all just more evidence that the Left has dangerously moved into an area of presumed moral superiority of the sort that believes the "righteous" ends justify the immoral means. This indicates what I and many other concerned Americans have been saying is true: that Liberalism/Leftism is moving or has moved from a political orientation and into a secularist dogmatic religion.

Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

Thanks, CG! I won't sleep a wink tonight now!