I am aware of left wing students trying to prevent conservative speakers from speaking on campuses, and I condemn that. There are a few speakers who are beyond the pale, neo-Nazis or whatever, but guys like Ben Shapiro, who is just a smug jerk, should be allowed to speak. Protest, ask hostile questions, sponsor counter-speakers, ignore them, or whatever you want, but trying to prevent their talks not only violates free speech but magnifies their importance way beyond what their content would otherwise justify.
Right. And that's the key. There is a legal way to protest, and then there is an illegal way to protest.
If you don't like what someone is saying, protest in a way that is legal. That does
not include trying to silence them. The first amendment guarantees freedom
of speech, not freedom
from speech.
If you are employing protest methods that are designed to silence point of views you disagree with, then you are encroaching on first-amendment rights.
Remember. . . the first amendment was not ambiguously chosen. It's not like the writers of the constitution took all the amendments and then drew them out of a hat to decide which amendment would be first, second, or third. No. . . the first-amendment is the
first amendment for a reason. It fundamentally defines who we are as Americans-- and, I would argue, as a secular nation founded on very basic, Christian, principles of reasoning.
I mean. . . just look at all of the atheists we have on this forum. We don't kick them out, or try to silence them, for a reason. That's not how we would want to be treated.
We only remove them when they start making personal attacks. But we have removed self-identifying Christians for making personal attacks also. The moderators here have been
extremely fair-minded.
The point is. We should not give illegal protesters a tail wind. I know it makes for good TV ratings. . . but it is absolute poison to the kind of society that our founders envisioned. I absolutely guarantee you that using such illegal methods of protest are only going to add fuel to the fire of Trump's movement-- because they represent
perfectly what Trump is raising his voice against: a petulant PC policing public who act like children whenever they deal with ideas that they disagree with.
I would, in all honesty, much rather see minds changed based on Trump's economic stances. Or his stances on the conflict of interest between voter interest's and and the special interest groups.
