(Article republished from Revolver.news)
This time around, we watch as Republicans flip the switch and crusade against free speech in the name of “safety and democracy” (sound familiar?). Meanwhile, the New York Times flips the script, backing away from the pro-Palestinian protesters while simultaneously posing as the big defenders of “free speech” and law and order. Of course, they’re conveniently glossing over their own history of cheering on tyrannical censorship. All of this unfolds as the right starts using the left’s censorship tactics to shut down so-called “hate speech” on campuses—a term that doesn’t even have a legal leg to stand on—and now the Times has snatched up the “free speech” banner, strutting around and calling out the “tyrannical censors” on the right.
And what does the right do in response? They just keep spinning in circles, blubbering on and on about “hate speech.”
For years, right-wing Republicans, at the federal and state level, have found opportunities to crusade against academic freedom, with charges of antisemitism on campus serving as the latest vehicle. Speaker Mike Johnson of the House of Representatives used this moment of chaos as cover to begin a legislative effort to crack down on elite universities, and lawmakers in the House recently passed a proposal that would impose egregious government restrictions on free speech. The Senate should reject those efforts unequivocally.
The lawmakers on the right, led by Speaker Johnson, have done the unthinkable. They’ve created a massive gap by pushing the left’s “hate speech” mantra, allowing the very tyrants we’ve been fighting against to grab hold of the “free speech” torch and march to victory. Revolver discussed this in a recent piece, warning that the Republican push to silence and chill dissenting political speech would backfire right in America’s face.
The New York Times piece goes on:
Schools ought to be teaching their students that there is as much courage in listening as there is in speaking up. It has not gone unnoticed — on campuses but also by members of Congress and by the public writ large — that many of those who are now demanding the right to protest have previously sought to curtail the speech of those whom they declared hateful.
Establishing a culture of openness and free expression is crucial to the mission of educational institutions. That includes clear guardrails on conduct and enforcement of those guardrails, regardless of the speaker or the topic. Doing so would not only help restore order on college campuses today, but would also strengthen the cultural bedrock of higher education for generations to come.
Short of threats, violence, and illegal or dangerous trespassing, which are clearly against the law, whether we like it or not, these pro-Palestinian protesters have the right to say what they want. Those of us on the right should not be obstructing their right to do so while simultaneously championing “free speech” for J6 political prisoners, President Trump, or Douglass Mackey. Thankfully, there are many true warriors on the right fighting for freedom of speech, like former Brazilian President Bolsonaro, who’s currently getting the “Trump treatment” in his country. His son is championing real freedom, especially when it’s labeled so-called “hate speech,” because that’s precisely when you need to fight the hardest to speak freely.
?— ONLY ON ? can you get a shout-out from Brazilian President Bolsonaro's son and fellow patriot as we ALL do our part in the battle for free speech!
Free speech is a human right, and if we lose it here, we lose it everywhere! pic.twitter.com/6ORHkRfjZG
— Diligent Denizen (@DiligentDenizen) May 7, 2024
Another one of those warriors is Elon Musk, who is also battling it out, scoring a huge victory against another group of tyrants: the Australian government, over free speech.
???BREAKING NEWS
Elon Musk has won the Federal Court case against the Australian government over censorship.
The Australian government wanted the Sydney stabbing of the Bishop to be removed but Elon refused.
A win for free speech! pic.twitter.com/EpCTlXpBs5
— Wise Philosophy (@Wise1Philosophy) May 13, 2024
While the aforementioned right-wing free speech warriors battle for God-given American rights and liberties, the GOP establishment, on the other hand, is in a moral panic over “hate speech” and “anti-Semitism” on college campuses when it should instead be calling simply for law and order whenever and wherever the left-wing mob is illegally threatening, intimidating, and disrupting order.
You know it’s bad for the GOP establishment when the New York Times is grabbing the mantle of law and order right out from under its nose and chiding the GOP for impinging on free speech, all while the likes of Speaker Johnson and Fox News do a “hate speech” Chicken Little act.
Campuses should be able to tolerate some degree of disruption, which is inherent to any protest. That makes it even more important that school administrators respond when the permissible limits for speech are violated.
During the current demonstrations, a lack of accountability has helped produce a crisis.
It has left some Jewish students feeling systematically harassed. It has deprived many students of access to parts of campus life. On campuses where in-person classes or commencement exercises were canceled, students have watched their basic expectations for a university experience evaporate. And at times, the protesters themselves have been directly endangered — the disarray and violence of the past weeks has been escalated by the continued involvement of both the police and external agitators.
Amid the protests, there has been much discussion of both antisemitism and Islamophobia, and when the line is crossed into hate speech. There are profound risks to imposing overly expansive definitions of inappropriate speech, and universities have been rightly chided for doing so in the past. But it should be easy to agree that no student, faculty member, administrator or university staff member on a campus should be threatened or intimidated. School policies should reflect that, and they should be enforced when necessary.
Of course, imminent, lawless threats, violence, and the like are illegal and must be punished if we are to have an orderly civilization. But where was the New York Times during the George Floyd “summer of love,” when violent, lawless, “mostly peaceful” thugs burned down half the country’s inner cities in the name of “protesting”? Obviously, the Times was cheering on the “mostly peaceful” protests and declaring riots the “language of the unheard.”
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