The University of Houston has offered the latest example of how free speech is being rapidly eradicated on our campuses. Rohini Sethi, vice president of the university’s student government association, was given a 50-day suspension from her student government post for saying “all lives matter” on social media. She has now been told that the suspension will be lifted after she publicly apologized and agreed to attend cultural events.
Sethi originally wrote “#ForgetBlackLivesMatter; more like AllLivesMatter.” This was done in response to the murder of five police officers. She was immediately denounced as racist and various students claimed that she had created a hostile environment by stating her viewpoint. Student government President Shane Smith responded with the draconian measures.
Now, Sethi will be allowed to return after a type of public confession that seemed more appropriate to a reeducation camp than an American campus. Sethi issued a joint statement with Smith that said that “I have chosen to take these steps on my own because of the division I’ve created among our student body,. I may have the right to post what I did, but I still should not have. My words at the time didn’t accurately convey my feeling and cause many students to lose their faith in me to advocate for them. I will always continue to learn and be ready to discuss these issues.”
So she has the right to speak but will be sanctioned if she does?
Smith is qouted in the Washington Post as saying:
“Her post and subsequent actions were very divisive. It caused some in our student body to become very upset with her. They lost faith in her ability to represent them because they felt that she did not understand or respect the struggles in their lives.”
Smith actually apologized to those who wanted more of a sanction, writing “For those that are disappointed by the change, this is a compromise based in the reality of the situation. My stance on racial injustice has always been clear. For all involved, this is truly the best outcome.” No, I do not believe it is the best outcome. The best outcome would be to respect the right of all students to speak freely.
We have previously discussed (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) the erosion of free speech on college and university campuses as students and faculty are punished for expressing views deemed offensive to any group. In the meantime, we have also seen protests by Black Lives Matter and other groups that silence other students with little response from university administrators.
The controversy of University of Houston shows how schools are now instilling speech regulation as an accepted part of academic environments. The result is a new generation of students taught that they must conform to majoritarian or official views if they want to be educated or avoid sanctions. The primary responsibility for this rollback on free speech rests with the faculty and administrators of our schools, who have often supported such notion of speech as “microaggressions” or hostile acts under school codes.
While Sethi originally stood by her comments, she has now been brought to heel under a de facto speech code. None of this has anything to do with the merits of the rivaling views on the use of “All Lives Matter.” It deals with the right of students to engage in an open debate on such issues. I recently spoke with a student at Missouri (groundzero for the controversy over Melissa Click), for example, who told me that he no longer felt that he could even raise concerns over the demands of “Black Lives Matter” at his school. Despite his support for measures to fight inequality and racism, he said that students no longer felt that they could question even the list of demands being made by the group. This is someone who supports the effort to reform aspects of his school but still fears speaking about the issues. He noted that his faculty has also been silenced in the aftermath of the controversy. His experience is not unique as faculty and staff have succeeded in chilling the speech of those with questions or opposing views on our campuses.
OK so I watched the video, and it’s the usual mix of some good points, mixed in with some obvious personal problems on his part (how sad that he doesn’t like strong women).
My sister taught in the inner city schools for 35 years so I know every sad, ugly, horrible, story you can imagine.
Does he really not know about the brain damage caused by lead ingestion? About fetal alcohol syndrome?
He mixed up a few valid points with a lot of BS. Is there a problem with multi-generations on public assistance? Yes, but that’s a superficial analysis. In the school districts where they actually TEACH sex education, birth rates drop.
His rant is very reminiscent of Bill Cosby ranting about young men with saggy pants. We all know how THAT turned out.
Sounds to me like Tommy needs to sort out his personal pain, no doubt caused by some woman, and an actual analysis with some constructive advice.
Squeaky,
You make some good points.
I just want to add that we are ALL involved in this. We all have to own our bit. Yes, black people have to own their piece. But you gotta own yours and I gotta own mine. Otherwise it’s just ignoring how things got to be the way they are, and that makes unwinding the problem impossible.
If your reaction to Black Lives Matter is anything other than agreeing, then you are still part of the problem.
Because of course all lives matter and no one was saying they don’t–no one with any sense anyway. But people are saying Black Lives Matter because in so many ways we in America, white, black and otherwise, have been acting like they don’t.
Thanks
Are you planning on updating this to reflect the fact that a) Sethi was never suspended; B) UH had nothing to do with this; and C) The SGA retracted?
@PhillyT
You argue: Blacks behave badly because they are raised around blacks who behave badly. YES! You get it!
Now, let’s move to a question and answer. Let’s make it multiple choice!
Question: How do you start to make things better in the hood?
a. Blame bad black behavior on white privilege and racism;
b. Blame bad black behavior on black people who behave badly.
Now, liberals usually opt for “a”, assuming you can even get them to admit blacks behave badly.
I opt for “b” – – – because people do have control over their own behavior. How is blaming someone else going to solve anything?
If you will watch the above Tommy Sotomayor video, he explains exactly this issue!
I used to believe, like you, that the low marriage rate was because of black men. I have changed my mind after listening to Sotomayor explaining black women, and comparing it to my own personal experiences. I no longer blame black men for not wanting to marry black women. As he says, black men in America are the only group of men in the world who can not marry a woman of their own race and have a family with them. Because by the time they meet one they like, she already has 4 illegitimate kids by 4 different baby daddies. Welfare has pretty much castrated 75% of the black men in the country. Here is you a starter issue on black women:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TK7iom5vIk
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeaky
That’s pretty funny. Ignore the FACT that we have arrested and imprisoned one out of every three black men and then blame the women for being unmarried mothers.
What’s next, you going to give me the old “they shouldn’t have broken the law then” routine or some variation on it? Because there are numerous studies as well as a few dozen consent decrees from the dept of Justice that reveal the instant lie in that line of thought. We know for a FACT that black students are more likely to be suspended, expelled or arrested than white students who commit the same offenses in school. We know for a FACT that police at EVERY level target black communities for drug arrests, harassment and nuisance ticketing. We know for a FACT that black receive harsher sentences in court. But please, whitesplain this for us.
Take a child, any child. Put them in a home surrounded by drugs and violence. People they know being killed at random. Make them sleep in the bathtub in case someone shoots through the walls. Don’t give them enough to eat. Make them watch adults from their neighborhood get arrested, beaten, harassed and humiliated by the police.
Now point your finger at them and blame them for not doing better, for not getting out, for not trusting anyone, for their persistent state of PTSD. That’s all I get from your argument/ Ever.
@Autumn
If they are hoity-toity types, they may tell you they will vote for HRC, and then vote Trump in secret. Who knows? We will find out in November. Me, I suspect Trump will lose because I think the idiots outnumber smart people in the country. Sooo, if he wins, I will be pleasantly surprised.
I am learning today about 1960’s music called “Garage Rock”, and I really like it! Here is an hour+ mix of it, and the guy has four more up, plus others have mixes, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOyA7aK0HqU
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@squeek
Interesting that you are an INTJ. I am a “fluid” INFP/ENFP. Can go either way as an introvert or extrovert depending on my mood. But definitely everything is filtered through feelings.
Thanks for the graphic – I will share with my Jillbots.
I am sitting here waiting for my new T-shirt to dry so I can wear it tonite at an outdoor party. It reads “Pro Women / Anti Hillary” The party is hosted by close friends who are evangelical Republicans. So they will appreciate it methinks. I am curious to see how many are Trumpsters as I am hearing chatter that a faction of that group are planning on voting for HRC to spite Trump for imploding the party.
Don’t set much store by MSM polls so I am gonna conduct my own field work. I’ll let you know how it turns out =)
@Autumn
I went to your link! I am like the Old Soul thingie, but that is because it is a lot like an INTP, which is what I am.
Plus, I did a few more pics for Jill Stein. Here is one:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CptM67cUEAAOkZa.jpg
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@Mary Anne
You should inform Merriam Webster:
illegitimate: born to a father and mother who are not married
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
No birth is illegitimate.
@Roscoe
You said one smart thing, “There is no difference between someone who prays to and relies to a document then someone who does the same for a concept.”
Damn straight! That is why I say PC type people are the New Puritans. The PC type credo has just replaced the Bible, and Christianity, which is somewhat passe nowadays. You were on a streak!
But, you had to go and ruin it with, “Continually finding exceptions, patterns and flaws in one or 2 members of a party of citizens logic doesn’t disqualify them form being able to participate in the bigger argument does it. Squeek? I’m talking to you and your micro sliver of examples that support your larger hateful ideas.”
I try to be fair, and intelligent in my comments. I simply don’t find 3/4 of something to be a “micro sliver.” Sooo, knocking a 75% illegitimate birth rate among blacks seems fair to me. I would think anything above about 20% would be fair game in view of all the constant co-dependent crap being spread around by liberals. Maybe you should try to wrap your brain around that number.
Take the murder rate. Blacks are 13% of the population, yet commit 52% of the murders. Mostly black victims. IIRC around 3,000 in Chicago alone since Obama came into office. Is that a micro sliver of murders?
But I will give you an example of a micro sliver. How about cops killing black men! Here’s the numbers:
Lets see, 112 divided by 112 + 4,472, or 112 divided by 4584 = 2 1/2%, the majority of which were justified. I am going to say maybe 95% were justified, which gives maybe 6 unjustified black killing, which 6 divided by 4584 = .0013. Or about 1/10 of 1 percent of black killings are done by cops.
Therefore, Mr. Micro Sliver, you are plucking out the 1/10th of 1 percent to whine about Black Lives Matter. Doesn’t it occur to you that you are the one actually doing what you accuse me of???
What I just did to you was not a fancy debate trick, or rhetorical shenanigan. It’s just showing you the simple facts. I truly wish you would give this some thought. Because if you are on the wrong side of things, then it is YOU, and people who think like you, who are causing harm in the black community. And they got enough problems without a bunch of white people making it worse.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@squeek
I like this site – http://www.higherperspectives.com/
Do you pray to and rely an institution?
Then you are a institutionalist.
If you pray to and rely on a larger industry to help you consolidate your congealed views?
Then you are and an industrialist.
There is no difference between someone who prays to and relies to a document then someone who does the same for a concept.
Why can’t the concept of reliance on words carry the same social intellectual value to all parties?
Continually finding exceptions, patterns and flaws in one or 2 members of a party of citizens logic doesn’t disqualify them form being able to participate in the bigger argument does it. Squeek?
I’m talking to you and your micro sliver of examples that support your larger hateful ideas.
Find all the exemptions you want. They do not equivocally solve the problem you think they do.
Your answers are yours and so minuscule to the bigger picture.
Please go back and consider your insignificance.
BLM Dog
How bout cats? I have a 23 lb orange tabby who is a real thug cat. Attacks all other cats and dogs as well.
We need a topic on the blog about dogs, not people.
@Autumn
You said, “These very same social pathologies you cite apply equally to the “white trash” segment of society. Ever been to Appalachia? Generations of folk trapped in a mire of self destruction which few escape from. And the growing rate of meth and pain pill addiction is increasing – a white issue.”
DUH!!! What do you think I have been saying??? Yeah, if you do stupid stuff like popping out illegitimate kids right and left, and sell and take drugs, you are going to end up poor, and in a mire of self-destruction! Yes! No friggin’ matter what race you are!
Sooo, knock off all the racism and White Privilege stuff, and start concentrating on the bad, stupid, trashy, destructive behaviors! Because all the White Privilege crap does is provide an excuse to blacks to do the exact same crappy stuff that makes any person of any race fall flat on their face.
It ain’t the 1950’s and 1960’s no more.
BTW, did you watch the Tommy Sotomayor video above?
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
@PhillyT
I think you would do better to focus on the last thing you said, “I’m not saying blacks have no way out, or that individuals have no responsibility. . .”
If you concentrate on that, then all the other things you said, like “WE locked up all the young men, turned them into lifelong felons, refused to hire them, poured drugs into their neighborhoods. . .’ would seem pretty dumb. And maybe you wouldn’t say stupid stuff like Hillary does, who wants “un-mass incarcerate lifelong felons, and pour them into their [black’s] neighborhoods.” That ought to be a hoot, when and if it actually happens! Grab your popcorn!
BTW, did you watch the Tommy Sotomayor video above??? Because I think maybe there is hope for you if you got out of the liberal echo chambers.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Anyone remember Jane Elliot’s “Blue eyes / Brown eyes” experiment?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/class-divided/
@squeek
re: “It is about black behavior and conduct. I think there is no physical or mental reason why black women can not take birth control pills, or get married, or maybe even stop at just one illegitimate child by one baby daddy. But no, they tend to go for a bunch with different baby daddies, and then raise the poor little kids to be just as violent and stupid as they are.”
These very same social pathologies you cite apply equally to the “white trash” segment of society. Ever been to Appalachia? Generations of folk trapped in a mire of self destruction which few escape from. And the growing rate of meth and pain pill addiction is increasing – a white issue.
Got it Squealy,
a multi-step process that goes something like this, and remember I blame liberals and conservatives and especially people who call themselves christian:
In NO particular order:
Make sure that blacks have no access to credit
Withhold voting rights in every way possible
Don’t hire them ( a college educated black man in America gets hired at about the same rate as a convictred white felon)
Red-line their neighborhoods
Sic the cops on them in every way possible
Make sure they cannot own their own homes, and have to rent.
Withdraw money from their schools
Make sure that they have easy access to drugs and guns.
Kill their leaders, or stand by while others do it
Put all that in a big, big pot and stir it for fifty years or so.
Then point at them and talk about how utterly shameful it is they can’t “behave” better, or how the REAL problem is black-on-black crime, or that they just can’t seem to stop making babies, or exercise any real self control. Never mind that WE locked up all the young men, turned them into lifelong felons, refused to hire them, poured drugs into their neighborhoods, and so on and so on, ad nauseam. And I do mean nauseam, because this makes me sick.
I’m not saying blacks have no way out, or that individuals have no responsibility, but to deny that we have MASSIVE MASSIVE responsibility for what happened and what’s happening today, is pure unadulterated bullsh*t.
IMHO