Common Sense and Free Speech

Common sense is on the way to the final grave. Sadly, its death is occurring on college campuses all around our country. 

Reading articles from an organization sponsored by the Leadership Institute, Campus Reform, reveals some unbelievable stories from colleges around the country. We don’t have to depend on the Mainstream Media for a firsthand view. The reporters are students themselves, right there on the battle front.

Universities are the place where parents send their children to grow and learn. They used to be encouraged to engage in debate and free speech and to think for themselves. These institutions have become a place where the exact opposite is happening. Young people are punished for dissenting opinions and some even face violence on campus from the far left-wing socialists there, if they dare to express a view different than the left orthodoxy. Research shows that in many cases, conservative students self-censor for fear of being ostracized by peers or punished by professors. 

I know you’ve heard the stories of conservative speakers being disinvited to campus because of leftist complaints and even threats of violence. Some speakers who did manage to show up have had pies thrown at them, heckling so they couldn’t be heard and even destruction within the facility where they were speaking. A couple of these speakers were folks like Justice Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice. You can’t get any more dangerous than that. 

Speakers from the left are generally welcomed without much incidence. A North Carolina University even invited a porn star to come speak. I’m still trying to figure out what intellectual benefit could have been derived from her presentation. But that’s just me.

A college in Illinois had campus police tell conservative students they would be locked up for handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution. Imagine that. The document describing the history of our founding is too dangerous for young eyes.

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a teaching assistant went off on the president of a student conservative group. The group was recruiting students to join their organization. The teaching assistant gestured with her middle finger and yelled profanities at the student calling her a “neo-fascist” and “Nazi.” What a teachable moment that must have been. 

A staffer referred to conservative students, at Purdue University, as “racist idiots” and called them “vile”.  Oh, and threatened to rape the Pro-Life Students. 

We hear a lot about tolerance. Where’s the tolerance for opposing views? We are a very diverse group of people in this country and each should accept the differences of opinion.

It appears that intellectual debate has been suffocated by political correctness. Especially on college campuses, the P.C crowd is on steroids. Campuses should be the place where more free speech and sharing of ideas is celebrated and promoted. Instead, the violent mob has been allowed to dictate what other students may hear.

By protecting these young people from any dissenting views, they are becoming more fragile and less resilient. Adversity teaches us many lessons.

In the late 1800s, only 1% of all 18-24-year-olds were enrolled in higher education. Today that number is roughly 40% of all within that age group. That means around 20 million young people are attending these institutions. 

If college students are only allowed to hear and discuss one side of the argument, how will they learn to confront opposing views.

A survey by Freedom for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, found that a majority of students agree with disinviting guest speakers they disagree with. A majority also does not realize that hate speech is protected by the U.S. Constitution. 

We should teach our young people to be “tolerant” of other views. Shouting down speakers and throwing things at them, is not acceptable behavior. If you don’t want to hear what a speaker has to say, DON’T GO TO THE EVENT. You don’t have to be a college student to figure that out.