It’s both a compliment and deeply troubling that some Americans are asking,”Why do we need free speech?” We’ve enjoyed free speech for so long, it seems, that we don’t easily see the more dangerous implications hiding behind “by removing free speech we can do away with the minor annoyances of dealing with contrary ideas.” But it’s deeply troubling that we also seem to be incapable of looking at history or beyond our borders to see what the curtailing of free speech becomes. It’s deeply troubling in that most of the advocates for curtailing it in America have themselves benefitted from it enormously in recent years. They seem to be completely ignorant to the fact that no one clamped down on their freedom of speech when they started agitating for many of the changes that are coming to fruition today. In many ways it’s the equivalent of, “thanks for not stomping on me when you had the chance, sucker. *STOMP!!!!*”
What is truly ironic, however, is that one area where free speech is under attack is in what used to be monuments to the free exchange of knowledge and ideas. Whereas colleges and universities once launched anti-authoritarian movements, they’re now the primary vehicles of authoritarianism. Today’s college students need to be protected from any ideas that might cause them discomfort. Imagine that. How much discomfort did the various campus movements of the 1960’s cause students? What would have happened if campuses decided back then that questioning the government and cultural traditions had to come with trigger warnings and only take place in approved campus locations–if at all? What if the Young Republicans had been able to mount campaigns to ban liberal speakers from campuses under the banner of protecting students from hateful, angry speech?
The world would look very different today. There’s no denying that. So it’s ironic that colleges, bastions of liberalism, have embraced the hard-right conservatism they supposedly used to oppose. They are the ones who are afraid of change.
But you don’t have to take my word for it:
When I went to college I was exposed to some ideas that were not entirely comfortable. On occasions my beliefs were verbally mocked by other students. I not only survived, I think I grew a little. Certainly my horizons broadened. I may not have chosen to be exposed to those contrary ideas, but hiding from them wouldn’t have helped me in the slightest.
Also for your consideration: Univ. of WI Releases List of Microaggressions; Saying “Everyone can Succeed” now racist.
Nicely put.