A public institution gave one group the use of its grounds as a canvas on which to create a political message. Freedom of speech absolutely requires that opposing groups be given access to the same canvas. Anything less is infringement on the free speech rights of the opposition--the anti-choice protesters chose that site and their method of expression for maximum dramatic impact, and so their opponents have the same right to make a dramatic and impactful statement, using the same public facilities.
Unless you can make the bizarre case that this single piece of land was the only possible place that a counter-demonstration could possibly be set up, or that freedom of speech is somehow violated when opposing views are not presented simultaneously, you really don't have a leg to stand on.
These people vandalized and destroyed someone else's political statement. And a teacher taught her students that this is how it's done in America.
It's that simple.
In my experience, the obliteration of opposing views rather than presenting counterarguments is not uncommon on the Left.
Write opposing articles? No. Steal campus newspapers and throw them into dumpsters. Tear down posters advertising conservative speakers. Try to get the speakers cancelled. When the speakers arrive, drown them out.
It's an open secret that the second thing the Democrats want to do if they get Congress back (after destroying Bush, of course), is to get the Fairness Doctrine back in, and put some real teeth into it this time. They can't compete in a free talk radio market.
Current Events » in reply to The Scarecrow
Sorry. You're flailing.
The whole thread (52 posts)
- Free speech on the campus
- Here's my question to you.
- Professor suspended
- re: Free speech on the campus
- I could describe my night on the floor of the republican convention
- would any number of counterexamples matter?
- Only "Politically Correct" speech is free.
- Tom, a little less than 2 decades ago...
- Another example
- re: Free speech on the campus
- It takes all kinds