Liberal Professors Blame Free Speech for Violence
The number of people on the left who are so willing to betray the United States Constitution in the face of violence is alarming. It’s especially disturbing however, when it’s done by the academic class. These are the people who are supposed to know better.
Read this report from Greg Lukianoff at The FIRE.
Global Unrest Prompts Professors to Blame First Amendment
By now, I am sure all of you have heard about, and like me have been horrified by, the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Cairo and Benghazi, the latter of which took the life of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. In times like this, it’s natural to ask questions about why these events took place and what could have been done to prevent them. Unfortunately, as seems increasingly common, the suggested answer from many quarters has been to impose censorship of controversial views. And in this country, the leading voices advocating censorship are coming from American academia.
One of the earliest voices to call for the arrest of the producer of the “Innocence of Muslims” YouTube film trailer that has been blamed for the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was University of Pennsylvania religious studies professor Anthea Butler. Professor Butler took to the pages of USA Today to opine that scenes in the movie that could “incite and inflame viewers” justified his arrest.
University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner took a more scholarly tone but came to a similar conclusion in a widely-read article for Slate, in which he says that other nations “might have a point” when they decide that free speech must “yield to other values and the need for order.” Professor Posner challenges what he calls “the bizarre principle that U.S. foreign policy interests cannot justify any restrictions on speech whatsoever,” apparently in the belief that it is reasonable to punish private Americans for their expression if the government believes that it might adversely affect U.S. foreign relations.
Former Washington Post reporter and University of Baltimore law professor Garrett Epps piled on in The Atlantic, insisting that he would not support “hate speech” prohibitions but assuring readers that “Much of the advanced, democratic world questions” the American view of free speech, “not from ignorance but from painful experience.” Professor Epps cites a (now overturned) 1951 Supreme Court case upholding the conviction of Americans for conspiracy to teach Communism to claim that most Americans’ current inclination towards largely unfettered free speech is a historical anomaly. Not only is this not true, but it’s shocking to see a court case from the days of the Red Scare wheeled out to support censorship in 2012.
These professors have a right to make these arguments, and FIRE would defend their right to make them if they faced adverse action for their opinions. But it’s no coincidence that these attempts to justify censorship, unconvincing and specious as they may be, are coming from American academia. Colleges and universities have spent a generation subjecting students and professors to speech codes, telling them that “hate speech is not free speech” (a fallacy that FIRE hears over and over from students who don’t like that we defend the unpopular speech of their fellow students), and taking actions ranging from petty to draconian against students who dare to dissent.
Comments
These “intellectual pigmies” are not worth the best blood of our Nation which was sacificed so that they could pontificate
These “intellectual” pigmies are not worth the best blood of more than two centuries which was sacrificed so that they could SELL OUR FREEDOMS FOR THEIR VANITY.
“AMERICANS PREPARE TO REPEL BORDERS”
Islam’s mask, so carefully applied,
Has torn for all to see,
Its unjust rage against our faith,
Threatens our Liberty.
The enemies of freedom gather,
False despots’ begotten sons,
And in America the Beautiful,
Their leader is the traitor; “THE WON”.
God gave this land a Law of Defense,
Which applies to every man
Who lives by the code of “self-control”
Who prays freedom for this land–
Who has pledged he’ll not seek conquest
But take a DEFENDER’S stand.
Hear us, ye craven foes of life,
We are not afraid of your screams.
For a “moment” you may spread your strife,
For a brief space of time you may dream,
Of defiling our women and enslaving our youth
With fanatical zealots’ schemes.
We have watched you burn our embassies,
We have seen you deface our flag.
Our soldiers and envoys have paid death’s price,
While you screamed, and ranted, and bragged.
You were seen unworthy of pride or respect,
As their bodies through your sands were dragged.
Enough of the frauds, enough of the lies,
That your anarchy is “decent” or “just”.
Though you claim false pretext to cover your sins,
We renounce your excuses for lust,
Of the men and their homes we will defend,
With our very lives if they must!
We renounce BO’s MEDIA WHORES as well–
You have bought and paid for their souls.
We deny their lies, we reject their claims,
We repudiate so-called “polls”—
Which you believe will cause us to quake
At the “might” you claim to control.
We have prayed, and fasted, and pleaded,
The God of Our Fathers once more.
It was He who gave us Freedom’s gift;
And His might cannot be ignored.
His Law of Defense now applies here,
And it sanctifies our shores!
Aroused, Columbia’s* God prepares,
To repel every foe from this land.
It is He who orders Heaven and Earth,
And with Him we now take our stand.
Once more we Patriots rally and cry—
We shall honor what Heaven commands!
* Columbia = United States; new Latin; from Christopher Columbus; first used 1775.
NO RIGHT RESERVED.
In 1776, a pitiful, yet believing, band of farmer/soldiers defended themselves against the most powerful army the world had ever known—AND WON; against all odds; against every treasonous naysayer, defeatist, and cynic, THEY WON.
They did not win because they went to England and sought conquest or spoil. Rather, they made an oath with the God of Heaven, whose might in defense of freedom HAS BEEN SEEN THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY. This oath they kept, that they would honor His laws and praise His name in exchange for His pledge to ETERNALLY DEFEND our land on conditions of righteousness. Even our FOES may visit and enjoy privileges and protections of property and person, so long as they will abide by our laws! Even these “masters of academia” are allowed to spew their peculiar venom of submission–because of Patriot blood. I will defend their right to betray our freedoms, SO LONG AS THEY LIMIT THEIR TREASON TO “EXPRESSION OF OPINIONS”. Walk across that line at your peril gentlemen.