Joe Biden Slams Campus Leftists Who Shut Down Speakers: 'It's Simply Wrong'
"Liberals have very short memories."
Count former Vice President Joe Biden among those of us who remain confused and frustrated by the campus left's ongoing efforts to silence everyone with whom it disagrees.
During a joint event with Gov. John Kasich at the University of Delaware earlier this week, Biden was asked what should be done "to encourage people to be more accepting of opposing viewpoints."
"It's interesting," said Biden. "When I was coming up through college and graduate school, free speech was the big issue but it was the opposite. It was liberals who were shouted down when they spoke. And liberals have very short memories. I mean that sincerely."
Biden accused liberals of hurting themselves "badly" when they don't allow speech to take place. He specifically referenced the madness at Berkeley earlier this year and noted that the pre-emptive violence was deeply counterproductive.
"You should be able to listen to another point of view, as virulent as it may be, and reject it, expose it," he said. "The best thing to do is let this stuff be exposed. Don't be like these other people. Don't give the Trumps of the world the ability to compare you to the Nazis or you to the racists because you're doing the same thing. You're silencing."
While in office, President Obama made similar appeals to students to actually engage differing opinions rather than resorting to shutdowns. It is great to see Biden doing the same thing: answering bad speech—the kind calling for censorship—with more speech. Let's hope young people on the left will listen to Obama and Biden, if they aren't listening to anybody else.
Watch Biden's remarks below.
Hat Tip: Campus Reform
