FIRE's Greg Lukianoff: This is 'One of the Worst Years' for Campus Free Speech

There is growing evidence that free speech is under threat at college campuses across the United States. A recent Pew Research Center survey shows that 40 percent of millennials are okay with the government limiting speech if it offends minority groups, and it seems that we're treated to headlines about students having their safe spaces violated daily (which Robby Soave covers beautifully here at Reason).  

In a recent interview with Nick Gillespie, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's Greg Lukianoff posits that students aren't really against free speech, they just haven't been taught the concept of free speech correctly.

"Freedom of speech is really a sophisticated concept," says Lukianoff. "We are so used to it in America that we sometimes forget just how sophisticated it is. Meanwhile if you have a K-12 environment or a parental environment when people are explaining that free speech is just the argument the bully, the bigot, and the robber baron make—that is morally persuasive. And if no one has ever explained to you otherwise, of course you are going to think that free speech is the mean person's argument."

To that end, FIRE partnered with director (and former Reason TV producer) Ted Balaker to produce Can We Take a Joke?, a documentary about the intersection of comedy, campus censorship, and outrage culture. The film, which wasrecently picked up by Samuel Goldwyn Films and is set for release this summer, includes interviews with Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Lisa Lampanelli, Adam Carolla, Jim Norton, and others. FIRE and Young Americans for Liberty are sponsoring a week of preview screenings across college campuses starting April 13.

I tend to agree with Lukianoff's assertion that students are missing the point when it comes to the idea of free speech. When I accompanied Reason TV producer Zach Weissmueller to Occidental College last December to ask students about free speech rights, they all agreed free speech was important, but seemed to struggle when differentiating between hate speech and things assholes say. 

You can watch all of Greg's interview below, and be on the look out for Can We Take A Joke?, which is set for release this summer. 

Thumbnail photo by Cory Doctrow/Flickr. 

Comments

[SIV]

they all agreed free speech was important, but seemed to struggle when differentiating between hate speech and things assholes say

WTF is "hate speech"?

[Ted S.]

I answered that for you, toots.

[Lee G]

It's like obscenity, they know it when they hear it.

[Notorious UGCC]

"Hate speech" superficially resembles "passionate or intense speech reflecting a commitment to social justice," except it's isn't designed to promote [loving] leftist goals.

For example: "Those [racial minorities] are lazy" is hate speech.

But "We need affirmative action or else those racial minorities won't be able to succeed in college or on the job" reflects passionate commitment to social justice, and is *not* hate speech.

Also, "shut up, you [ethnic minority] bastard" is hate speech.

"Shut up, you racist," is passionate commitment to social justice.

[Notorious UGCC]

Also, "Trump 2016" is hate speech.

Disrupting a pro-Trump gathering is *not* hate speech, it is actually *anti*-hate.

[MarkLastname]

It's okay to hater haters or people who tolerate haters. In fact, failure to hate haters is in itself an act of hate, as I understand it, thereby rendering oneself a hater.

[Heedless]

Hater haters?

[MarkLastname]

Oops, meant 'hate haters.' Of course one who hates haters would be a hater hater.

[GILMORE?]

WTF is "hate speech"?

He just said... its things assholes say, duh. Why else would they be assholes?

[SIV]

"She"

My question was for Alexis Garcia.

[AlmightyJB]

Hellooooo Alexis!

[Playa Manhattan.]

Dibs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hate speech would be speech that conveys or suggests something with which you disagree.

[Hyperion]

It's when you say things that a snowflake doesn't like. You rat fucking bagger.

[mtrueman]

"WTF is "hate speech"?"

Hate speech is a very sophisticated concept that was almost certainly inadequately covered by your K-12 teachers.

[Ted S.]

Hate speech are the things the SJWs and administrators say, right?

[Warty]

Between this nonsense and, more dangerously, the fact that several attorneys general are investigating Exxon for conspiracy to express unwelcome thoughts, I thought this old speech was worth posting.

https://youtu.be/jyoOfRog1EM

[Old Man With Candy]

Isn't he like all dead and shit?

[Warty]

Old, dead, and white. Probably owned slaves.

[Notorious UGCC]

"The greatly overpraised Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes"

Ooh - atheist vs. atheist catfight, I approve!

[Notorious UGCC]

Though I think he's not distinguishing the *Schenck* and *Abrams* cases - the former was Holmes' anti-First-Amendment for the Court, and the latter was when he published a pro-First-Amendment dissent from a pro-censorship decision.

Between the two cases Holmes seems to have seen the light.

[Ken Shultz]

The people cheering on Hitchens there may be the same people railing against free speech as racist, homophobic, etc. today. Honestly, I think a lot of this safe space crap is simply generational influence. We're talking about baby boomers, the society they created, and the children they raised. It looks like this:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gPG43X7SDB8/hqdefault.jpg

When baby boomers were young and outside the halls of power they were all about free speech. Now that their generation is in power, they're all about limiting criticism and opposition. Millennials have been fed a steady diet of baby boomer idealism, and safe spaces are simply what a mature baby boomer society looks like after they've institutionalized their power.

We can only hope the millennials' children rebel against their parents.

[tres]

Seems as if western society is evolving (devolving?) towards utter stupidity of the masses. Gonna guess that millennial's children will not even question the authoritarian boot on the neck.

[JWW]

They sure as fuck won't, that boot will be what keeps them "safe".

[Warty]

Did you fail to notice how uncomfortable he made his audience of Canadian liberalass do-gooders? That's essentially the point he was making.

[Warty]

This comes across a lot bitchier than I meant it to. Oops.

[toolkien]

Apparently you skipped right over Gen-X? We're next at the power switch. It is necessary that we raise our kids to sandwich the millennials between us or we will be royally screwed. ANY hope for a stable future requires that the Gen-X's kids be saner by a long shot - and know how to change a damn light bulb.

[C. Anacreon]

My wife works in the food-and-beverage industry (restaurants, wine, liquor etc) and she's a Gen-Xer herself, but she says that all the marketing people in virtually all industries now are just skipping Gen-X and going full-bore on Millennials. You truly are in a sandwich generation, except no one is interested in making you a sandwich.

[JWW]

Bullshit, I think you missed where the boomers and millennials will team up to fuck us out of any chance to lead us out of the socialist hell they at clamoring to create...

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Winner.

[JWW]

America's two worst generations. It really sucks to be in a generation bracketed by their combined stupidity.

[Hyperbolical]

Ken, most every generation or group or person thinks much differently about rights when they are out of power than when they are in power. Most people want to champion rights when they face power and to disparage them when in power. It's not a generational thing.

[Notorious UGCC]

"Religion sucks!"

[applause]

"Militant Islam sucks!"

[]

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Is that really your take away?

I, for one, think they both suck.

And both have the absolute right to exist (provided the individuals practicing them follow the NAP).

Why do you interpret a defense of Islam, the right to worship as one chooses, as an attack on other religions (yours)?

YOU are idiot Hitch is talking about.

[Domestic Dissident]

He said militant Islam. You do know what that means, right? Of course you do.

[Old Man With Candy]

He said militant Islam.

Which is Europe's and the Middle East's problem, not ours. In the US, Muslims aren't categorically any different than any of the flavors of Conservative or Orthodox Judaism.

[JWW]

Yes of course in America Muslims would never try to kill you for drawing a picture of their beloved prophet, or shoot up your office Christmas party.... Oh, wait.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

What are you saying, there are no nutty Christians who commit crimes?

Who are the victims?

Religious bias
Of the 1,140 victims of anti-religious hate crimes:

56.8 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders' anti-Jewish bias.
16.1 percent were victims of anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias.
6.2 percent were victims of bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group).
6.1 percent were victims of anti-Catholic bias.
2.5 percent were victims of anti-Protestant bias.
1.2 percent were victims of anti-Atheist/Agnostic bias.
11.0 percent were victims of bias against other religions (anti-other religion). (Based on Table 1.)

[Careless]

There are 40something times as many Christians as Muslims in this country. You'd expect dozens of Christianity-related terrorism mass murders every year if you were right.

[mtrueman]

"You do know what that means, right?"

Militant just means bad, right?

[Old Man With Candy]

"Militant" means "the guys running around shitholes 10,000 miles away who are making us wet our pants."

[Francisco d'Anconia]

You read the parenthetical, right? Of course you did.

You can be as militant as you want up to that point.

I take issue with terrorism, not the religion the terrorist practices.

[wareagle]

so when acts of terrorism, far more often than not, are tied to a specific religion, are we supposed to overlook that? The acts tend to be tied to the religion.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

The acts tend to be tied to the religion.

But they're not.

Terrorists acts are committed for political reasons. Terrorists attempt to wrap their cause in religion because they know it will aid in garnering support for said cause. Like any war, you wrap it up in god and/or a flag and the non-thinking will come a runnin'.

The terrorists would like nothing more than for the US to declare war on "Islam" because it'll bring 1.6 billion people to their side. And there are a good number of idiots in this country who will play right into their hand.

This is Terror 101 shit.

Fight the aggressors. Don't make more of them.

[bluecanarybythelightswitch]

Ignoring hundreds of years of islamic history and jurisprudence, the support for terrorists among large swaths of the muslim populations of almost every country, and the expressed religious justifactions for violence in arabic to muslim audiences... then, yeah, sure, they're angry cause they can't have 15 dollar minimum wage jobs at a McDonalds. There is no cognitive dissonance in saying people should have a right to worship allah but also admit that islam is a fucked up medieval cult that is unique among world religions in how shitty its adherents act.

[EscherEnigma]

I'm expected to ignore that the majority of American homophobia is tied to a specific religion, so fairs fair and all that jazz.

[Azathoth!!]

No you're not.

People go on and on about Christian antipathy to homosexuality. Constantly.

Those same people COMPLETELY IGNORE Islamic antipathy to homosexuality--an antipathy that includes detailed descriptions of how homosexuals should be killed--descriptions that are carried out whenever they get enough numbers to enforce their laws.

[Notorious UGCC]

F d'A, I'm summarizing the reaction of the *audience* to Hitchens' talk.

"Why do you interpret a defense of Islam, the right to worship as one chooses, as an attack on other religions (yours)?"

Why don't you ask him?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Fair nuff, Eddie.

Odd that you'd notice that.

[Aloysious]

"Don't take refuge in the false security of consensus..."

Awesome. Line.

[commodious spittoon]

The [social] science is settled, shitlord.

[commodious spittoon]

Sometimes stringing sibilant sounds subsequently simply seems satisfying.

[Ken Shultz]

"40 percent of millennials are okay with the government limiting speech if it offends minority groups, and it seems that we're treated to headlines about students having their safe spaces violated daily".

There are no truly safe spaces. Those safe spaces are delusions. And I wouldn't say those safe spaces are violated on a daily basis. The safe spaces just fail at being safe on a daily basis.

It's amazing how completely Plato's world of noble lies has infiltrated our thinking. It's gone beyond the point where people choose which facts to believe based on which outcome they want (global warming, etc).

They want to inflict their well-intended delusions on reality, but reality just isn't conducive to safe spaces.

[Suthenboy]

"...inflict their well-intended delusions on reality,..."

What I have been saying for decades: People pretending reality is what they wish it was.

[toolkien]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

In its infancy, gave rise to the French revolution, calcified through the first half of the 19th century, giving rise to communism and, eventually, Fabianism and fascism. Fabianism is one of the first incarnations of Romanticism shellacked with a veneer of "rationalism" - the same vector we find in environmentalism of today.

[Hyperbolical]

Rationalism is an interesting animal. As a dyed-in-the-wool Myers-Briggs Rational I have a keen understanding of this. Rationalism ignores the non-rational aspects of the human psyche and pretends, for the most part, that it doesn't exist. This leaves the non-rational and emotional part of the psyche undernourished and underdeveloped. As a result, too many rationalists are stunted emotionally and don't know it.

[JWW]

The irony is that those who occupy safe spaces will violently harm those who make them feel unsafe.

Progressive leaders almost have their followers completely convinced that it ok to violently assault their political opponents because their opponents are evil and progressives are good. To put it bluntly, the words Trump supporters say are violence so hitting them with a bat is ok because their speech started it. It is going to be a long bloody summer....

[Ken Shultz]

"The irony is that those who occupy safe spaces will violently harm those who make them feel unsafe."

They really do. The enforcement of a safe space necessarily entails making the space outside of it more dangerous.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

leaders almost have their followers completely convinced that it ok to violently assault their political opponents because their opponents are evil and progressives are good.

EVERY war in history.

[wareagle]

I'll question the "almost." Whatever you think of Trump, the nonsense of blocking roads that lead to one of his events or purposely seeding the crowd with people who are going to be asses is not far removed from outright physical violence. At worst, it is meant to provoke that sort of response. No one has lost their mind over any other candidate's name in chalk or tried to shut down another candidate's event(s).

[toolkien]

You spelled decade wrong.

[Hyperion]

These are truly first world problems. As soon as our politicians have us back to scavenging for table scraps just to survive, and that's looking more and more imminent, we will forget about this bullshit again.

[Aloysious]

...Greg Lukianoff posits that students aren't really against free speech, they just haven't been taught the concept of free speech correctly.

Yet one more reason to abolish state run education.

[Suthenboy]

It looks like a distinction without a difference to me.

[GILMORE?]

Gaving McInnes interviews Trump protesters in Long Island

All of it is very awkward. Neither side of the discussion is every particularly articulate. But there are some lol moments. I liked the "Rush Concert" analogy, and it feels like Gavin is hitting on the kid when he asks him if he's gay. I felt like if he were like, "uh, Yah", Gavin would have been like, "Cool, want to do some crank behind this van?".

Also, don't talk about statistics because everyone has their own. Gavin insists that most mexicans are in fact rapists because (waves hands). There are also fascinating applications of the laws of silly-jism where "If the Right hates muslims and ISIS kills muslims, ERGO = the Right Loves ISIS"

[Pompey]

I felt bad for the sputtering ass at the conclusion. Walking stereotype.

[DEG]

OT: Body camera bill "inexpedient to legislate" because of a sponsor

The Senate Judiciary Committee last week voted 4-0 that a House bill regulating police use of body cameras is "inexpedient to legislate" - because its prime sponsor was disgraced ex-House member Kyle Tasker of Nottingham.

But lawmakers say the proposed body-camera law is alive and well; they just don't want Tasker's name on it.

Tasker was arrested March 1 for allegedly using a computer to solicit a 14-year-old girl for sex, as well as on drug charges. He resigned his House seat shortly after.

[Pompey]

God fucking damn piss-poor reasoning from those fuck.

[Pompey]

I swear, some of the hand-wringing nimrod legislators quoted in the Chris Christie-endorsing Union Leader make me want to puke. What a bunch of simpering assclowns.

[wareagle]

isn't this a version of PC getting in the way of something useful? My lord, and those are the people elected to make decisions. Tasker being a bad guy does not make him incapable of ever having had a good idea.

[BigT]

Tojo made the trains run on time.

[Hyperion]

FIRE and Young Americans for Liberty are sponsoring a week of preview screenings across college campuses starting April 13

Oh dear. The snowflakes will be triggered.

[croaker]

The snowflakes need a dose of reality. Unfortunately by the time gay students are thrown off tall buildings for their gayness it will be too late.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Here is my theory.

We are seeing the result of parents raising their children as precious snowflakes. Anti-bullying, helicopter parents, kids never out of their parent's sight, T-ball, everybody gets a trophy, constant supervision, every second planned out, cops in schools, play dates, no grades, everybody plays...

Oh, and soccer. I can't overemphasize how soccer is turning your kid into a pussy. (kidding on that last part) ((sort of))

These kids have never learned to deal with adversity. They either never encounter problems or someone else solves them for them. No wonder they cannot tolerate a differing opinion.

And if I'm right, we can expect it to get worse as these little pussies age and acquire real power.

My .02

[Old Man With Candy]

Oh, and soccer. I can't overemphasize how soccer is turning your kid into a pussy.

Did I ever mention that I want to bear all your children?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

They'd be damn good lookin' Polish-Jews.

[Old Man With Candy]

Hairless, though. And we're at the Tard Generator age. But still, if you're up for it...

[Crusty Juggler]

Hairless Polish Jews would be a terrible name for a band.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Tarded Hairless Polish Jews?

[The Hyperbole]

Hairless Jew polish?

[wareagle]

Hairless Jew polish?

best masturbation euphemism of the day. But the day is young.

[croaker]

If soccer is turning your kid into a pussy he's not playing it right.

[DEG]

OT: Craft beer boom in NH

Some good things in the article:

The beer business is booming in New Hampshire.

More varieties than ever of Granite State suds are on tap with a line of craft brewers planning to join the industry and more than double the number of operations New Hampshire had just two years ago.

"There's running room here in New Hampshire," said Scott Schaier, executive director of the Beer Distributors of New Hampshire. "We've got a nice cluster in the Seacoast area, but they're all doing great. It doesn't appear like there's too many at the party right now."

Schaier said the number of licensed breweries in New Hampshire has grown to 55, with at least 16 more operators in the planning stages or awaiting the permits needed to stop planning and start brewing.

[DEG]

Of course, the government fucks things up, though there is legislation to fix the problem:

One challenge the industry does face in the state is a piece of legislation that passed the New Hampshire House earlier this month and is up for consideration by the Senate.

HB 1540 would ease restrictions on brewers from outside the state and allow them to sell directly to retailers in New Hampshire, where the state liquor commission regulates distribution and sales of all alcoholic beverages.

On that note, Great Divide has been trying for the last year and a half to overcome regulatory hurdles so that they can distribute in New Hampshire. You can get their stuff in Massachusetts.

[Pompey]

North Country Cider Company's Sugar Shack is still solid after my third season of tasting, if cider is your bag. Picked up 2.5 gallons yesterday.

[DEG]

Cider is good. I will look for it. Thanks!

[Hyperion]

I like the J.K. Scrumpy hard cider.

[Adans smith]

I have all the yard work done.I have 6 ice old Corona's ,limes and lemons. My version of 'lemon aid ' in the summer..Have a good day.

[Adans smith]

Cold,not old.I

[Playa Manhattan.]

6 Coronas?

But how are you going to get drunk?

[Hyperion]

An entire case of Corona wouldn't get me drunk. There's no alcohol in it, there can't be. It's like the Mexican version of Coors Lite.

[Hyperion]

I have enough 1800 Silver and Triplo left to get a nice buzz going here.

[Playa Manhattan.]

I gave up drinking for a while, and then I had a Stone Old Guardian yesterday afternoon. 11%. On an empty stomach. It was a little beyond my comfort zone.

[Hyperion]

This is actually the first weekend I've had anything to drink since right after New Year. Trying to lose some weight, so I'll go back to abstaining again in a weekend or two.

[Playa Manhattan.]

I'm a hair under 180 now, which is pretty light for my build at 6'.

And that's part of the problem. My liver needs to put on some weight.

[C. Anacreon]

I gave up drinking for a while

No wonder we haven't seen much of you lately.
Were the beers we had a couple of weeks ago the last you had before yesterday?

[Playa Manhattan.]

Yes. That beer and a half I had with you was the only beer I've had since mid-March.

Didn't you notice that I was driving on the sidewalk?

[Hyperion]

Not drinking did that to you also? Damn, I thought it was only me...

[C. Anacreon]

Ha-ha, good one. Everyone knows there are no sidewalks in LA.

[C. Anacreon]

And since when is it summer?

[Hyperion]

I think it is technically sprang. Sprang has spru... wait... that's not quite right... I needz another drank.

[creech]

Why do we need 55 breweries in one state alone when millions of children are thirsty? A bottle of "Red Star beer," brewed from the tears of kulaks and wreckers, should satisfy everyone.

[GILMORE?]

+1 victory vodka

[Hyperion]

Old Comrade Ale

[Atanarjuat]

Turns out you can annoy your Facebook friends with libertarian memes just like they annoy you with liberal/conservatives meme thingies.

[Ted S.]

Why would you do Facebook?

[Playa Manhattan.]

How old are you?

[Domestic Dissident]

I don't know how anyone who isn't a libtard can even stand being on there. Not only is it a magnet for shrieking SJWs, but very soon Zuckerturd is going to turn it into a full-fledged arm of Hillary for America.

[Hyperion]

I had a FB account for a couple of months, years ago. The amount of stupid is staggering. I deleted my account, forever. Also annoys the fuck out of me why people think everyone wants to see hundreds of photos of their ugly dog and uglier kids.

[Playa Manhattan.]

But my kids are good looking!

[Hyperion]

I'm willing to take everyone's word on that. Just keep them off my lawn!

[C. Anacreon]

Speaking of Zuckerberg, the main public hospital in San Francisco is now named after him. Known forever as "San Francisco General Hospital" or simply "the General", it is from here forward to be known as "Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital."

Now if you are in a car accident, etc, the paramedics will say "we're taking him to Zuckerberg".

I spent my intern year, first year out of medical school, at SF General. Now both it and my medical school -- the erstwhile Northwestern University Medical School, now "Feinberg School of Medicine" -- have sold their names to the highest bidder. Wonder if my high school will be next.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I guess it's better than naming them after government officials.

[croaker]

But not by much.

[Libertarian]

OT: It's official. Africa is doomed.

"Prized by King Mohammed VI, who assumed the throne in 1999, Tangier is building a huge new port, a green seafront and AFRICA'S FIRST HIGH-SPEED TRAIN LINE. There's even an electro festival, Nuits Sonores Tanger, created in 2013 and held in October. Couple those with classic draws ? long beaches, ARTISANAL GOODS, a thriving cafe culture ? and Tangier is ripe for a global return."

http://www.nytimes.com/interac.....ctionfront

Ha. "Artisanal goods." Or, as most of the world calls it, "local stuff" and "food."

[Hyperion]

When was Africa NOT doomed?

[Hyperion]

I stole this comment from The Hill. Yeah, I know political parties can nominate whoever the fuck they want, but this still made me lol.

The following places don't allow their citizens to vote.

Iran
China
North Korea
RNC in Colorado USA
RNC in Wyoming USA

[Ted S.]

This was just Cruz following the rules to win the extra delegates the way Ron Paul did in Iowa in 2012, right?

Of course the trumptards get pissed.

[Libertarian]

Exactly. I expected this uproar to last a couple days and then peter out once people were told "how it works." But I guess there are still a lot of ditto heads out there who still listen to Rush.

[Hyperion]

Who's a trumptard?

[Libertarian]

I'm also going to start reminding people that taxpayers pay for the Dems and the Reps to run their primaries and elect their candidates. They do not pay for the Libertarian Party to do the same.

[Hyperion]

Does the Libertarian party even have primaries? If they do, does anyone even know about it? Sounds crazy, go through all the trouble to set up primaries for the 3 people who would show up to vote.

[Domestic Dissident]

Someone needs to tell that stupid goof Kasich to drop out of the race already.

As much as the establishment dislikes Cruz, they have clearly decided he's the best bet to stop Trump. Kasich is worthless, pointless, and completely irrelevant.

[Hyperion]

Cruz is acting more like the GOP's hand picked failures, Jeb and Marco, with each passing day. The guy lost any chance of me voting for him not too long after the election started. My initial plan was to support Ted if Rand dropped out, but by that time, Cruz had already went almost full on statist.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

My initial plan was to support Ted if Rand dropped out, but by that time, Cruz had already went almost full on statist.

I agree with that assessment. There was a time I actually considered Cruz as an alternative. Not now.

[Henry]

Absolutely. As opposed to the Democrats, who let the people vote, and then award the win to the predestined candidate regardless of the results.

[Crusty Juggler]

I'm all for free speech, but free speech doesn't give you the right to offend me.

[Libertarian]

I take offense at that.

[Notorious UGCC]

I'm offended at your offense

[Hyperion]

You're all rude. None of you even asked the other what pro-nouns you're allowed to use when referring to them. It's downright uncivilized around here, you damn heathens.

[JWW]

Speaking of pronouns, I predict right here that within the next 5 years people that continue to use he or she will be looked down upon as hopelessly sexist. Only xe will be allowed. Colleges will expel all students who don't conform.

[Hyperion]

There are entire languages built around gender specific words.

[Suthenboy]

No, it doesnt. My right to offend you comes from somewhere else.

*looks Crusty up and down*

Oh...wait just a damn minute here...

[GILMORE?]

Castro, 84, says Cuba's leaders are too old

Declares ban of all further aging, makes grandchildren head of all cabinet posts

[Hyperion]

All current top presidential candidates in the USA, feeling othered.

[Ken Shultz]

Harvard is going after students who belong to private clubs that don't accept both sexes:

It threatens to ban "simultaneous membership in final clubs and college enrollment," meaning the university could start expelling kids who join clubs that don't integrate the sexes.

Harvard must resort to such a macro-aggression because the clubs are private organizations. Most own real estate near Harvard Yard and none take university funding. Will the school next blackball students who belong to a disapproved political party, or worship at the wrong church? The only crime the clubs have committed is being out of sync with modern progressive sensibilities, even if Harvard's feminist focus seems a little out-of-date in this era of proliferating gender identities.

Harvard's real goal has nothing to do with sex abuse, which ought to be prosecuted by law enforcement wherever it happens. Campus leftists, who once protested in loco parentis regulations, now aspire to total control of student life. They can't abide the existence of free institutions beyond their supervision, much less leaving young people alone to determine for themselves the activities that are valuable to their college experience."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ha.....1460759189

Some of these private clubs are 225 years old. And there are clubs that only admit women, too.

[GILMORE?]

"you're only defending these organizations because you're part of the hetero-patriarchal establishment they represent"

[Ken Shultz]

Back in the day, punk rawk felt like it needed to offend the establishment's sensibilities in all sorts of ways. That's why Sid Vicious wore a swastika t-shirt. That's why gross out songs like TSOL's Code Blue, ST's "I Saw your Mommy and you Mommy's Dead, anything by The Misfits, and this one--probably the most offensive of all--were absolutely necessary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr9KRAMydf0

Deeply, deeply offensive to people--on purpose.

There may come a time when using racial slurs, homophobic slurs, etc. becomes necessary just as a way to defend our freedom. That time might be here now, but it's more than just speech. We should threaten the baby boomer establishment's entire rationale for trying to control us. Homophobes, racists, and misogynists have rights, too! The baby boomer establishment is worse than a church. You can leave a church. They're worse than the government--because they aren't satisfied with government. They want to dictate the boundaries of acceptable behavior to private clubs, too.

The stupidest, most obnoxious rednecks among us may be on the right track. It's not that the government should discriminate against blacks or queers; it's that a free society depends on the loud and obnoxious rants of fascist retards screaming obscene homophobic racism in the ears of everyone. God bless the idiots in the Westboro Baptist Church. We might never know whether we were free or not without those retards and other retards like them.

[franciscasparks]

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[EscherEnigma]

Pretty sure any year in which students aren't shot over Free Speech can't be "the worst year". Face it, you old fogies already set that bar pretty high.

[Uncle Jay]

RE: FIRE's Greg Lukianoff: This is 'One of the Worst Years' for Campus Free Speech

Since when was there free speech in Amerika's campuses?