Showing posts with label free expression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free expression. Show all posts

To End Campus Tantrums, Treat Young People Like Adults

by Maria Thielman.     The idea that a young person is someone to be protected, shielded, and treated delicately at all costs is part of what’s behind universities letting students force their professors out (as Yale just did) because they “hurt our feelings,” and part of why people don’t know how to debate anymore and just engage in shouting matches.   ... MORE

Donald Trump Wants To 'Close Up The Internet'

by Joey Clark.       Exploiting the anti-terror hysteria. Donald Trump recently suggested “closing that internet up in some ways” in order to help combat terrorism over concerns that children and others are being propagandized by ISIS and other groups. Speaking to his usual raucous throng of supporters, Trump opined, “We’re losing a lot of people ... MORE

Andy Puzder: The Importance Of Free Speech On Campus

The values of freedom.   As a former student protester from the '60s, I believe there is no better place for open debate and free expression than the campus quad. I fully support America’s youth exploring outlandish ideas because I believe our values can withstand the comparisons and will be stronger because of them. But, what’s happening on our      ... MORE

How To Rescue Free Speech In American Academia

by Nat Hentoff.       In last week’s column, I described how the national anti-free speech movement poses an imminent threat to freedom of expression in American academia. Those advocating for the anti-free speech movement attempt to interpret the “language of free speech” to their advantage so that it applies only to them, but not to      ... MORE

Alexandra Petri: In Defense Of Free Speech

A civil society does not require thought police.       I think it’s a great mistake to write off what is happening on campus right now as the demands of coddled youngsters for more coddling.  Good luck with that approach.  We are going to outlive you.  There is a much more serious discussion to be had.  Forty percent of millennials favor        ... MORE

David S. D'Amato: The Most Liberal Value - Free Speech

A free society tolerates words that hurt.  Current attacks on free speech reveal progressivism as a uniquely American iteration of fascism that shares many of its historical and ideological roots. Recent events on American college campuses have prompted a debate on where we should draw the line that divides permissible from impermissible      ... MORE

Walter E Williams: The True Test Of Free Speech

Are most Americans hostile to liberty?      Recent events at the University of Missouri, Yale University and some other colleges demonstrate an ongoing ignorance and/or contempt for the principles of free speech. So let's examine some of those principles by asking: What is the true test of one's commitment to free speech? Contrary to   ... MORE

A. Barton Hinkle: Crybaby Nation

Hysteria over hurt feelings and safe spaces.   When did America get taken over by a bunch of crybabies? The question seems a little judgy, but look around. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting people—from all parts of the political spectrum, it's important to note—yelping about their hurt feelings. That's not hyperbole: A recent viral video   ... MORE

David Harsanyi: The First Amendment Is Dying

Congress shall make no law, but...   "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" Unless we're talking about a white chocolate-paneled cake for a gay wedding or perpetual funding for "women's health" clinics because it's the "right thing to do." "or abridging the freedom of speech;"   ... MORE

When You're Popular, You Don't Need Freedom Of Speech

by Andrew Sirios.    The rise of the left, the demise of the west. Free speech is not something that people would normally see as a realm of economics, but in many ways, an economic understanding of the support and opposition to free speech can shed a lot of light on what’s happening now in the West. The first thing that needs to be noted is that  ... MORE

To The Paranoid Missouri Crybaby Children Unable to Cope With The Crushing Effects Of Hurtful Speech: Call The Cops

by Eugene Volokh.   Prof. Thom Lambert (Truth on the Market) passes along the following Missouri-University-wide e-mail: Subject: Reporting Hateful and/or Hurtful Speech. To continue to ensure that the University of Missouri campus remains safe, the MU Police Department (MUPD) is asking individuals who witness incidents of hateful and/or hurtful ... MORE

John Stossel: Censorship In America

Hate speech is less dangerous than censorship. Support for the idea that it's good to hear all opinions, even offensive ones, is thin. A plurality of Americans now support laws against "hate speech." Conservatives once wanted to ban Playboy magazine, violent rap lyrics and offensive depictions of Jesus. Leftists then were right to fight    ... MORE

Protect Free Speech Inside And Outside Of Courtrooms

Because justice is a result, not just a process.  In 2012, an 80-year-old retired chemistry professor was indicted on jury tampering charges for passing out brochures in a plaza outside a federal courthouse in New York. Those brochures regarded "jury nullification," an option available to jurors who might agree that a defendant broke the  ... MORE

John W. Whitehead: Sheep Led To The Slaughter

The muzzling of free speech in America.      “If the freedom of speech be taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” —George Washington     The architects of the American police state must think we’re idiots. With every passing day, we’re being moved further down the road towards a totalitarian society        ... MORE

Padding The Stats: 'Remarks About Physical Appearance' Considered 'Sexual Violence' In Rutgers Student Survey

Failing to differentiate rude remarks from forcible rape.    A new survey of Rutgers University students reinforces the idea that one in four college women will be victims of sexual assault... but only if you don't look at the study too closely. Zoom in and you'll find the same problems that plague so much research about sex crimes on college       ... MORE

The Next Front In The War On Religious Freedom

by David Harsanyi.        Stop bellyaching about Washington. All the country's best fascists are on your local city council. Not long ago, Colorado became a leader in the fight against religious freedom, when its Civil Rights Commission, self-appointed ministers of justice and theology, decided that a shopkeeper who refuses to participate in a gay ... MORE