We have been discussing the crackdown on free speech on college campuses as administrators punish any speech deemed insensitive or the still ill-defined category of “microaggressions.” One of the greatest concerns is the double standard showed to different speakers based on their content. The University of California at Berkeley is the most recent example of this controversy. In columns for the Daily Californian titled “Speaking Out”, “Fucking White Boys,” and “Choosing Myself Over White People”, Maggie Lam mocks and ridicules white people. A column using such language mocking people of color would instantly trigger demands for expulsion. It is not that I believe that Lam should be punished, to the contrary, I believe that it is far better to have the exchange of such views on campus than to regulate speech, particularly inconsistent regulation.
Lam refers to white people like her roommate as “the white devil” in denouncing “microaggressions” and describes her dorm room as “my oppressor’s bedroom looked like an Urban Outfitter’s catalog and smelled like a skinny white girl.”
Critics have charged that this and other race laden columns would never be tolerated by a white columnist. Given the effort to raise “microaggressions” to the level of sanctionable conduct, the concern is well placed. There has long been a lack of standard articulated in distinguishing race-based speech or conduct. I know little about the writings of Lam (and I have less interest after reading a couple of her columns). However, it does not matter. Race continues to divide society and Lam’s views will likely generate more debate and discussion on the subject. The solution is to return to the concept of a free speech zone for entire campuses and not isolated spaces. Good speech has a way to overcoming bad speech. Yet, many faculty and administrators want to actively silence views that they consider obnoxious or privilege or hateful. The result is uneven and unfair and ultimately self-defeating.
What do you think?
Wonderer,
Would that all cultures practiced as you describe.
What Lam fails to grasp is her own Asian Privilege (and I get to say that because I am Asian :))
Yes, Asians are generally seen (or stereotyped, if you prefer) as hard-working, respectful, smart, etc.
The Asian stereotypes are mostly positive, but that’s the outcome of a culture that abides by the “face.” In most Asian families I’ve known (lots), it’s both spoken and unspoken that your reputation is the most valuable thing you own. Everyone has one, and it has nothing to do with wealth or privilege. You own it, and it also owns you. You can’t shed it if it becomes inconvenient, and it’s a heavy lift to fix it once you’ve damaged it. As important, the family also has a “face,” and it’s up to each member of the family to guard and nurture it. And yes, I realize that isn’t unique to Asian families.
Where I think Asians tend to differ is in extending that outlook, that preservation of “face,” to the Asian community as a whole. In the Asian community, everyone is in everybody else’s business, and if a person or family is acquiring a bad reputation, the rest of the community reacts with whatever social pressure is available because that person or family is felt to be negatively impacting the reputation of the entire community.
It’s pretty sad that Ms. Lam feels burdened by the privilege she’s been given. Her own family and generations past have worked hard and sacrificed to give her this gift, which is the most precious thing in most Asian societies.
The white working class is America’s biggest voting block.
Clearly Democrats need to tell them they’re Evil and should Die more loudly.
Nick, good PI’s Always check out suspects. Maggie Lam IS ASIAN.
No blacks or BLM involved here.
And Maggie writes about how she sexually raped a white guy in detail.
If Asians start getting angry campuses better hold on tight. They have historically been a quiet, compliant, group. I would not call them a minority because they seem to be a dominant demographic on US campuses.
I’m guessing Lam is a fat Asian girl based on the derision expressed about her “skinny white girl” roommate. I sympathize w/ fat girls. It is a tough culture for them. She should keep expressing her anger and others should be allowed to respond. It’s not really that difficult. What makes it complicated are liberals creating and maintaining the double standard.
Another Democrat that hates white people.
What a surprise!
Blacks have talked about whites like this for decades without reprisal (Farrakhan, ‘Rev.’ Jeremiah Wright).
Democrats started the KKK to target blacks, now they target whites.
Same party, different enemy.
Whites better get used to it.
The animosity isn’t play-acting.
It’s real.
She’s not kidding in her columns, or being overly dramatic.
They actually want whites dead.
Ignore it at your own peril.
Hate speech of any kind is offensive to decent people. While it should not be banned, those who are offended should criticize and shun such speech. Assuming newspaper editors are decent people, they should not publish any form of hate speech including that uttered by politicians.
The entire Education system for the US was taken over by Bolsheviks who spend their days brainwashing our youth.
UC Berkeley ‘Income Inequality’ Experts Are Among Wealthiest 2% of Americans
http://http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/07/02/uc-berkeley-income-inequality-experts-among-wealthiest-americans/
A new report from the California Policy Center has revealed that “income inequality” experts at the Univeristy of California at Berkeley earn more than $300,000 a year, placing them in the top 2% of all American earners.
Marc Joffe, the author of the report, contends that Berkely economists who are interested in lessening compensation inequities should consider taking a pay cut so that lower ranking university employees can receive raises.
“If UC Berkeley economists are really opposed to income inequality and are concerned about low-paid workers, they might consider sharing some of their compensation with the teaching assistants, graders, readers and administrative staff at the bottom of Cal’s income distribution,” Joffe argues.
Many have argued that academics believe that their compensation isn’t reflective of the value that they add to society. Likewise, they often believe that private sector executives are compensated far more than the value that they add to society. “I think there is an issue of jealousy that academics have toward business people. They think CEOs don’t need to make as much,” Joffe said, arguing that some academics believe their work
Among the “income inequality” experts at Berkely is Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. According to the report, Reich makes more than $250,000 for his contributions as a member of the Berkely faculty. Despite his Berkely compensation alone making him one of the wealthiest of Americans, “Reich’s salary was likely not his only source of income in 2014,” the report adds. “Reich makes himself available to give paid speeches through a number of speaking bureaus, charging a fee estimated at $40,000 per talk. He is also likely to receive some income from his books, movies, and pensions from previous employers.”
Tom Ciccotta writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or on Facebook. You can email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
This is one of my favorite episodes of Reno 911 with many, “white devils” thrown in!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0685198/
Here are the lyrics to the song which my fellow dorm residents sing outside my room when I am trying to sleep at night:
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
Short People got no reason
To live
They got little hands
Little eyes
They walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet
Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
`Round here
Short People are just the same
As you and I
(A Fool Such As I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It’s A Wonderful World)
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
Short People got nobody
To love
They got little baby legs
That stand so low
You got to pick ’em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That got beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin’ peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They’re gonna get you every time
Well, I don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
Don’t want no Short People
‘Round here
A well known Martin Luther King quote was something like “I look to the day when my children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
That line resonated c. 53 years ago. MLK and other civil rights leaders and activist knew what their goals were, suceeded in achieving many of those goals, and displayed great courage and decency.
By the mid-to-late 1960s, “competitive ideas” about race relations steered away from the ideals and goals of the mainsteam civil rights movement.
The glowing tributes to Muhammed Ali glossed over his shared interest with the KKK, and his meeting with them to promote segregation.
They also shared similar ideas about racial supremacy ….KKK, Whites are superior, Blacks inferior.
Ali, Blacks are superior, Whites are devils.
Ali later modified his views, and I think he eventually left the Nation of Islam after serving c. 12-15 year as a high-profile member of that group.
In my view, there was a growing “re-segregation” movement that was counter productive to what MLK and others accomplished.
The Black separitist/ Black supremacist movement created a growing unease, an awkwardness, in relations/ communication between the races.
The influence of the Black segregationists probably would have grown even if MLK had lived.
I think he saw it as damaging to what he and others had accomplished, and were trying to accomplish.
Ms. Lam would likely take issue with many of MLK’s beliefs. I don’t think she’ll eclipse his stature.
Next thing the Lam will want is White Only sign on one water fountain and Black Only on one next to it. And a bottle of moonshine next to that for the Irish Only.
I think that Randy Newman’s music should be banned from all college campus in America. Go Google the lyrics to the song titled Short People. He says that we have no reason to live. I also think that the word “retard” or “retarded” should be banned from colleges. There is a sign which I do not approve of which hangs in my own dormitory here at my school and it is to mock me:
Short Retards’ Lives Smatter. This is offensive.
Strange. Maggie Lam is Asian.
Maggie Lam says she’s seeking to “reclaim the “Asian-American narrative” surrounding the immigrant experience. There’s more than speech going on.
Maggie rapes a white guy named Sam, and gloats about it in writing:
Maggie relates in explicit detail a story about how she initiated a sexually charged encounter with the blue-eyed Sam, seemingly against his will – something, had the gender roles been reversed, would have been an outrage on most campuses, including UC Berkeley’s.
Here’s a mug shot and sample of Maggie’s rant.
http://www.dailycal.org/2016/06/16/speaking-out/
As a society, we’ve gone from institutionalized racism to general condemnation of racism as evil.
The “brand” of racism exhibited by Ms. Lam is nothing new….it’s been on display for decades.
The “racism is vile except when it isn’t” mentality may be alive and well at the People’s Republic of Berkley.
Hard to say how prevalent that mentality really is overall, but there are. definately disciples of the virtues of “reverse racism”.
Individuals such as Ms. Lam would do well to exit the bubble for which she cloisters herself and discover that most persons and peoples are good, if she is capable of such a realization, that is.
Her sanctimonious racism will haunt her in the future if she continues to foster such bigotry. I suspect she is the type that engages in this type of publishing in an attempt to elevate herself in a base attempt at garnering prestige. It might work within her clique, but it does not work in the real world.
I am not at all sure that good speech drives out bad speech. Maybe it is more accurate to say bad experiences will eventually drive out bad speech. For example, if the black lives matter people start beating the crap out of more white liberals and their families, that would probably tend to change liberal minds about all that white privilege silliness, a lot more than appealing to their sense of reason.
My experience is that intelligent discourse can not overcome slick talking points and personal biases.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I am getting really tired of this double standard.
As a consequence, I am a lot less polite/understanding of people who make stupid (read racist) statements in front of me.
There are costs – for them and for me, but my patience with this politically correct race warfare is wearing thin.
I don’t agree with the word police generally but it is doubly appalling that those who complain about hate speech and micro aggression are permitted to engage in such conduct as long as the targets are white!
If the rules are going to be applied equally than Lam should be expelled. However, I think the rules should change. This whole special snowflake thing is only for a select group of students, not the entire student body.