Honestly, this is really concerning. I can fully understand wanting to express one's political beliefs, and fully support polite disagreement and civil discussion. In fact, the Civil Rights movement widely achieved its goals by similar violent disobedience to what some of these students find acceptable to protest a Campus Speaker. However, such a large majority of Students willing to commit violence to achieve the goal of suppressing another person is very, very bad for the future of this country. The suppression of speech is never a good thing. If these people hold these views, and they are being shut down by violence, then they likely won't give up these beliefs; they'll just start believing them in secret. And if that happens, then eventually that could reach a boiling point, and erupt in into wider scale, more destructive conflict. Beyond that, the simple acceptance of this as an acceptable method to avoid hearing an idea or having it expressed, even if it is a bad idea, then this can be truly damaging for the maintenance of our Republic. We shouldn't feel the need to shut people down with violence, or to self-censor our ideas, even if they are stupid or dumb. If they are harmful or advocate for violence, then they should be condemned and ignored; like the push for violence among these students.
I do agree with you, that the violence students are so willing to commit highlights our nation's deep polarization at the moment. The underlying concept that students will go so far to suppress one's free speech troubles me. Regardless of how much they disagree with one's perspective or viewpoints, this becomes an issue of humanity. Our country was based off individual freedoms, and as Americans the speaker has those fundamental rights. I've read articles recently about students protesting outside Ben Shapiro speeches on their college campus. That sort of thing is what helps this country moves forward, it's ok for people to make their viewpoints known and they should use their voices for things like that. However, this could be more of a show than anything and evokes many questions. Where will this violence be directed? Against whom? Senseless violence for the sake of outrage tears us down, and these students need to realize that. It won't help their cause at all, and it'll make them the aggressor to the public when in their minds they're the ones fighting for justice.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you as well, students should not be resorting to violence to oppress others' freedom of speech. Not everyone has to agree with one another, and it's not their (the violent students') place to change the views or opinions of others. Even advocators of civil disobedience and speaking/acting out on policies or actions of others that one does not agree with, such as Henry Thoreau, do not condone violence as a solution. Activists such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King both advocated for non-violent protests and the fact that a substantial amount of students believe violence is is acceptable to be used on relatively small incidents happening on campus is concerning. Violence is often not the best way to deal with issues, especially since it reflects poorly on those endorsing the violence. I'm not saying these students should agree with the other side, but perhaps simply attempt to understand their point of view, or at least not be violent towards them because not every single person is going to agree with them, especially if they use violence to discredit others' opinion.
ReplyDeleteOwen, I agree that this is deeply concerning. To be honest, I feel like this kind of sentiment is becoming more and more common not just among college students, but among US society as a whole. Freedom of speech (and thought) is a fundamental human right given to us in the Constitution, yet some people still want to try and change others' minds on issues. That's ok if they do it nonviolently, put taking violent action is crossing a line. In addition, I have noticed that it isn't just violence, but also nonviolent threats or harsh put-downs used by certain people to make those that disagree with them feel morally inferior. For example, polarizing statements like "disagree with me and you're racist" or "if you don't agree, you're transphobic" are used in certain contexts to try and turn a complex situation into a black-and-white, extremely liberal or extremely conservative debate, with no opportunity to choose a middle road, which troubles me because this kind of polarization will only lead to heightened tensions and eventually violence.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Owen, the fact that such a large amount of students being willing to resort to violence is concerning. And as you largely stated, we have the freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest for our rights. However, your rights end where someone else's begins, and the fact that people don't understand this is saddening. Racism is a large problem which does need to be addressed and fixed, however we do not need to do so violently, it has been proved before that we have been able to gain independence and rights peacefully and harmlessly and we can certainly do it again if we only try.
ReplyDeleteOwen I agree with you, if these students retain their beliefs about violence then the future of America is indeed concerning. Our society might evolve into a more violent and toxic society with people with differing opinions being put into danger for they way they think. But I also think that the behavior of these students might be a reaction to our society and government's response to peaceful protests. These students might believe that their violent means will gain more attention and thus pressure people into change. Issues such as racism have been in our community for as long as these students have been born, and watching no significant change rise from nonviolent methods of protest might have caused frustration to build. This frustration could have exploded into violence from the anger they felt at these speakers promoting ideals they don't agree with in their own colleges.
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