Is Free Speech Dead?

As Charlie Kirk pointed out on Hannity last week, “free speech isn’t really so free anymore.  It’s actually quite expensive.”   After all, it cost the college $600,000 to pay for all of Ben Shapiro’s security at his event at UC Berkeley earlier this month.  The left wants to make it so difficult and inconvenient for conservative speakers to give speeches at college campuses that many of them will not even bother trying anymore. 

 

To a degree, the left’s attempts to deter conservative speakers have succeeded.  Two conservative recording artists, Kaya Jones and Joy Villa, had initially planned to attend Free Speech Week at UC Berkeley but ultimately declined to so after receiving death threats.  Villa had previously angered the lefties in Hollywood by wearing a Trump gown to the Grammy Awards earlier this year.      

 

 

Speaking of Free Speech Week, The Berkley Patriot, the Campus’s conservative newspaper and co-sponsor of the event, dropped its co-sponsorship after intense pressure from the UC Berkeley Administration.  Since all official university events at Berkeley require a student sponsor,   Milo Yiannopoulos, who organized the event, decided that the show must go on; choosing to make “Free Speech Week” an unofficial university event.  While many of the planned speakers have dropped out, Milo says that he will give speeches on the topics that the guests would have talked about had The Berkeley Patriot continued to sponsor Free Speech Week.  Milo kicked off Free Speech Week yesterday with some of the people who planned on speaking this week including Mike Cernovich, director of the documentary “Silenced”; which addresses the deteriorating respect for free speech in America.  Not surprisingly, left-wing agitators showed up; determined to prevent people from attending the event.   As of right now, the Free Speech Week website says that Pamela Geller and David Horowitz still plan to speak on Tuesday; “Islamic Peace and Tolerance Day.”  However, the Daily Californian reports that Milo will not return to campus for the rest of the week; making the fate of the rest of Free Speech Week unclear.    

 

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Milo said that he intended to give the “Mario Savio Free Speech Award” to Ann Coulter on Wednesday night.  Since she no longer plans on visiting the campus this week, he says that he will present the award to her whenever she can finally make it to Berkeley.  Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later.      

 

While the attacks on free speech from the left have accelerated since the election of President Trump, the War on Free Speech is not a new phenomenon.  Several books have discussed the topic including End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun),  a collaboration between Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson; and The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech by Kirsten Powers.  The left’s attitudes towards free speech stem from the epidemic of political correctness that drives comedians such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld away from college campuses.   

 

While the radical left’s attempts to shut down speech generally target conservatives, even left-wing politicians can no longer escape the anti-free speech crusaders.  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, one of the most left-wing politicians in the entire nation, had to deal with the wrath of SJW “dreamers” at a town hall event in San Francisco last week.  Many of these protesters resented the fact that she dared to meet with President Trump to work out a deal on DACA.  Their signs made it clear that they will not be satisfied until all 11 million (or more) illegal immigrants receive amnesty from the Federal government.  Maybe Pelosi’s experience will allow her to empathize with American conservatives, who have to deal with angry mobs nearly every time they try to give a speech.     

 

Former FBI Director James Comey, who has become almost universally disliked on both sides of the political aisle, had his speech at Howard University interrupted on Friday.  Many of the hecklers would fail to get away with their antics if not for the compliance of the school administration.  Not every administrator will show the courage of the President of Bethune-Cookman University; who threatened to end the commencement ceremony and mail students their diplomas if they did not allow Betsy Devos, Secretary of Education and teachers’ union punching bag, to speak.     

 

Believe it or not, private universities have done a better job of protecting free speech than public universities.  Liberty University allowed Bernie Sanders to speak there in 2015.  While many of Liberty’s students probably have little in common with the pro-abortion septuagenarian socialist, they allowed him to speak without dousing him in pepper spray or throwing a pie at his face.  Most of America’s college students would do themselves a favor by following the example set by the students at Liberty University. That probably will not happen since many “open-minded” liberals see the Evangelical Christians who make up the student body at Liberty as “bigots.”       

 

Fortunately, some liberals, albeit a very small group, have had enough of the far left’s authoritarian tactics to shut down the speech of those they don’t like.  Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who voted for Hillary Clinton, has consistently stood up for free speech.  In a recent appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, Dershowitz explained “You can’t have free speech for me but not for thee, which is they way many Berkeley students and professors wanted.   Free speech for the left, not the centers, not for conservatives, not for centrist liberals like me.  If I were to speak at Berkeley, I would be the subject of protest.  That’s how far this has gotten.” 

 

 

As For Milo, he plans to launch his Troll Academy tour next month.  This tour will teach Americans “how to effectively fight the culture war for the soul of western civilization.”  Without a doubt, many college students will need to look for a safe space as soon as they find out that Milo plans to speak at their campus.   Colleges he plans to speak at include Cal State Bakersfield, San Diego University and Cal State Fullerton.  These colleges have probably already enlisted counselors and therapy dogs. He will also give two speeches at the Phoenix Convention Center. Check out the Troll Academy website for dates and more information.

 

In my opinion, free speech is not yet dead; it currently sits on life support in the intensive care unit.  Hopefully, Generation Z will see all of the madness going on in the country and adopt a less authoritarian position on Free Speech than the millennials.  Studies already show that Generation Z’s political views lean more to the right than their millennial counterparts.  Free speech activists should certainly find that refreshing.  It seems as if politics has a cyclical nature; since Generation X also turned out more conservative than the baby boomers.  I guess this proves the truth of the old adage “Bad times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create bad times.”  I sure hope the cycle repeats itself soon because I am beyond ready for the good times that will result from the end of the reign of the snowflakes.