Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Society

Protesters Torch Free Speech At Berkeley In Latest Example of Mob Rule On America’s College Campuses

milo_yiannopoulos_journalist_broadcaster_and_entrepreneur-1441_8961808556_croppedSeal_of_University_of_California,_Berkeley.svgWe recently discussed the courageous stand of the University of Chicago in favor of free speech (a position followed by schools like Purdue). Free speech is being rapidly diminished on our campuses as an ever-widening scope of speech has been declared hate speech or part of the ill-defined “microaggression.” Now Berkeley has shown the world exactly what this intolerance looks like as protesters attacked people, burned property, and rioted to stop other people from hearing the views of a conservative speaker. As on so many campuses, they succeeded. The speech by Milo Yiannopoulos was cancelled. A triumph of anti-speech protesters. Berkeley now must face a defining moment. The only appropriate response for the school is to immediately reschedule the speaker and stand in defiance of those who want to deny the right to speak (and to hear and associate) to others. Moreover, it is liberals who should be on the forefront in denouncing these protests and the effort to stop this event. Otherwise, it can follow the lead of schools like DePaul and cast aside free speech in yielding to the mob.

Berkeley has previously been a battleground over effective speech codes and an example of 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 mocked and ridiculed white people. A column using such language mocking people of color would instantly trigger demands for expulsion.

Protesters not only succeeded in blocking others from hearing from this speaker but they then proceeded to riot and destroy property outside of campus. This is the result of years of academics declaring some speech as unworthy of protection and enabling students who believe that no one should be allowed to express views that they feel is discriminatory or demeaning or hateful.

Yiannopoulos is a gay conservative who is a popular speaker with his “Dangerous Faggot” talks. Hours before his event, protesters began throwing fireworks and destroying property to stop him from speaking. People who came to see him were reportedly attacked — an ironic twist for protesters who said that they wanted to fight hate speech. Protesters chanted “Milo has got to go” in an effort to prevent people from hearing his views.

Berkeley can yield to the mob and surrender free speech to a violent mob. Alternatively, it can reschedule the event and expel any students who engage in violence on campus. The choice is between being a place of learning and being a place of indoctrination. This is one of the truly great universities in the world and once the center of the fight for free speech in the 60s. At one time it was the students who stood bravely for free speech. Now it must be the faculty. I know little about this speaker and I have never read his work. I do not have to. There are those who want to hear from him. A college is a place where different voices should be heard. These protesters are the face of true intolerance. What they are attempting to do is inimical to the being essence of academic institutions.

Berkeley insists that the violence was committed by “outsiders.” I hope so. I have no problem with student protesters who disagree with a speaker. However, I wish that I would see just one college where a speaker like Yiannopoulos was protected by a line of “Liberals for Free Speech” who do not agree with him but support his right to speak. Those students who try to interrupt speakers or block doors (and we have seen many in the last couple years) are seeking to censor the speech of others.

Berkeley needs to bring this speaker back.

246 thoughts on “Protesters Torch Free Speech At Berkeley In Latest Example of Mob Rule On America’s College Campuses”

    1. Time for macro agression. What in the old days was known as a trip to the woodshed. Berkely is the home of the sanctuary movement and also the lair of Yoda Lykoff who is George Soro’s chief theorist for the secular regressive movement of the extremist left.. Theorist is not meant as an accolade as most of his income is eirther a Soros funded ‘chair’ and he spends most o f his time writing some heavily plagiarized from other sources little book as training manuals for Secular Regressive agents –the caliber of their work speaks for itself. It’s also one of the home of the fascism as a control movement which used to be called ‘misbehaving’

      They get about 500 million a year half from federal government and half from the State from federal grants. Most of the references state why that funding is an ‘entitlement’ and cannnot be stopped.

      I beg to differ. The current rules state that but that is an act of Congress rule signed by a previous President. Congress can make a new rule that says, “Declaring a budget emergency all -such and so descriptive phrasing passed through the varous Departments may be adjusted to a maximum of (fill in the blank) percent in order to use the funds for more necessary purposes by executive order of the President and a further (fill in the blank) percentages by the Congress or maybe excluded from the next years budget request from blanket, block, or direct grants etc etc etc. gobble de gook as usual…………” The same as is used by every city and town when they want something they can’t afford but don’ tmind putting the citizens in debt to accompllish.

      One country in Oregon did this using the initiative for any new purchases in excess of $10,000.00 without a direct (there’s your democracy in action) by the citizens.

      Point is the congress can write anyting they want….President can sign it and the language can be made very specific to any of the 3,000 plus federally funded university while still applying to all equally.

      Control of Senate, House, and White House and with one more SCOTUS not of the conservative side necessarily but of the Constitutional side should count for someting other than not much

      If they want to get elected again.

      Berkeley is one of the more richly endowed universities should be able to cover that loss 500 million dollar loss with a single hollyweed fund raiser or a tax on professors books produced on university time.

        1. Thanks to futuret for that tip on a site to look at.

          Now wonder why as a moderate centrist constitutionalist I categorize the left as extremist and marxist-leninist? Today there own polls were 89% to 93% proof positive of their not only left wing extremists but their fascist nature.

          You wonder they are now the lefter stream media leaving Fox trying to cover the mainstream and the center; where NOW resides not the difference between National and International Socialism but the real center where resides the Constitution. Where and what else would you expect to find in the center of a Representative Consitutional Republic?

          Spencerian Grammar for the uneducated.

          Greetings from the center and remember God loves the Infantry not RINO’s and DINOs.

          1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact#page

            Here’s an example of free speech that is truly free and open to everyone

            We often come up with great solutions or idea and that address above will get your solution to the lions den in the belly of the government beast.

            No place to put political affiliation etc it’s cor “Citizens” primarily

            That started with their campaign committee and back then I received requests to expand on one point or another… so won’t guarantee a call from Daniel but ….who knows?

            It’s called ‘open government’ using modern technology. combined with old fashioned ‘letter writing’

            I through this in here because it fits the subject so well….

  2. As usual the students at Berkeley are leading the way. Milo Yiannopoulos just lost his book deal, his speaking invitation at CPAC, and was forced to resign from Breitbart once a video surfaced with controversial remarks regarding his opinion on the age of consent.

    1. @bettykath: “As usual the students at Berkeley are leading the way.”

      So the bears make a meal of Yiannopoulos.

      I was unaware that the UCB students had anything to do with Yiannopoulos and his recent losses.

      Perhaps you can fill in some of the details and let us know what happened.

    2. bettykath – I would say that Milo went out swinging. He is gone from Breitbart, but he will pop up somewhere else.

    3. The WaPo has an article that attributes Yiannopoulos’ downfall to a splinter Republican group, Reagan Battalion, that broadcast videos of Yiannopoulos in which they claim he defended pedophilia.

      The timing of events suggests WAPO has a point. If anything it appears Yiannopoulos had greater success after Berkeley – not that the protestors wanted that.

      1. Well we have a Supreme Court Judge pushing for 12 year old age of consent. Whats her name the realy really old plug ugly. That might be fake news too I better say that but I noticed it in a lot of places for a while.

  3. Interestingly, Milo stated on the Tucker Carlson show, after the incident, that he is actually optimistic about the future of free speech on campuses. He said that many young people who self identify as liberal, have told him that they are appalled at the lack of free speech on their campus. Of course, they also told him that they are afraid to voice their opinion for fear of reprisal.

  4. It’s infuriating the kind of racism and vileness toward white men (specifically) that Maggie Lam expresses is perfectly enshrined in UC Berkeley’s own official newspaper.

    It should be crystal clear…whatever the high and mighty liberal elite say (no matter how nasty it is toward white men) is protected…anything you say against them will be viciously attacked (and there is no doubt they would do a lot more if they could legally get away with it).

    I would classify the official support for this kind of intentionally nasty speech from the left (while suppressing speech from conservatives) as an indication of a threat of “Liberal Authoritarianism” that would run rampant if it were not sufficiently fought against.

    It is clear the enemy we are fighting against. We can see them. Their atrocious divisive behavior is openly protected by everyone on the left.

    It’s time for Milo to be given his free speech…it would be a delight to have her present when he lets loose because she needs to face up to the vomit she’s been spewing.

  5. Sorry my favorite gay starship navigator, too elegant a gambit for those green-tinted Klingons. I’m going with those carpet pad wearing Vulcan cousins, the Romulans, and that stealthy cloaking device.

      2. If the administrations of the nation’s institutions of higher learning do not get a handle on the intolerance problem on their campuses, this type of legislation may have to be enacted. I can see Trump either taking funds away from the institutions that restrict free speech,or Congress passing a law such as the one quoted above. Why though, would any college or university that ostensibly stands for free speech and learning have to be forced by an outside person or body to do the right thing? It is a sad commentary on the state of what is now called Liberalism.

        1. The intolerance is not put to an end because there are enough administrators on these campuses that support the message the intolerant are broadcasting. Or, alternatively, they are not willing to confront the intolerance because they lack sufficient motivation to do so.

          With the former, it would take a great amount of inertia to provide a change of mind since being sued is not going to be a deterrent (since it does not involve their own money) They are crusaders for their cause and as long as someone else suffers the consequences it is acceptable to them to keep resisting and tolerating the intolerable.

          1. There is one absolute. Professors respond to cash on payday. loss of funds means raise tuition, cut staff salaries, or cut staff. Or football. ha ha ha

          2. Anothe in the latest round from snowflake land and this time the main culprits identified their backers. Secretary DeVos was blocked from entering a school in Washington DC. You may first suspect NEA National Education Association the political wing of the Department of Education or formerly. That could still be true but then up jumped a BLM protester and bing Soros is fingered again. ….or is he funding NEA along with the taxpayers?

            It’s a swamp!

              1. Having jumped on that one early on it’s one of my two issues with the current President (theother is hiring anyone from Goldman Sachs and allowing them to have anyting to do with the Treasury.) The rest is going great with my full support but Confiscation without due process doesn’t fit the mold of a moderate centrist supporter of the Constitutional Republic nor does associationg with Gold Bags.

                On the other hand I did point out using the Patriot Act and charging suspicion of supporting terrorism the addition to that law trump had added would work and be completely legal.As you may recall when that charge is used there are no civil rights.

                  1. Making use of wasted space EVer noticed how certain celebrities meaning entertainers who recite what others wrote very often don’t have a comments section after their tweet tweet tweeting? Well the new exemptee is streepstreepstreeping. Probably so questions like this won’t get answered. Is it true you demanded the use of a wild and scenic area on the Rogue River be opened up to film crews, trucks etc. for one of your movies Yourg green is like your poltics Comrade ….pasty.

      1. So are the snowflakes. I’m melting I’m melting. Finally global warming is back when you really need it.

          1. I got it the grants were cancelled and the donations dropped off so the proponents went on strike and signed up for welfare ergo global warming is off again. Makes sense and in reverse explains why it was turned on in the first place.

            They couldn’t read a collection of past Farmers Almanacs and learn about weather cycles – far to complex. .

    3. Sorry my favorite gay starship navigator, too elegant a gambit for those green-tinted Klingons. I’m going with those carpet pad wearing Vulcan cousins, the Romulans, and that stealthy cloaking device.

  7. Great piece. I just wrote a post today detailing how these Antifa thugs are displaying all the examples of fascism. Glad there are still people with their heads screwed on when it comes to free speech.

    1. Hi! How are things in Old Blighty??? Anyway, like you I looked up the Winston Churchill quote about fascism, found out it was probably Huey Long, but also found this interesting little tidbit at Wiki. It is a quote from some Italian dude named Ennio Flaiano, and it goes like this:

      “In Italia i fascisti si dividono in due categorie: i fascisti e gli antifascisti.” (Ennio Flaiano!) or translated into American:

      “In Italy the fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and anti-fascists.”

      I thought you might like that.

      Squeeky Fromm
      Girl reporter

      PS: I luvvved your Hero With A Thousand Faces book! Very good! I also have a cassette of your lectures laying around here somewhere. I stole it from my father along with your Masks Of God books. I truly envy you getting to meet Carl Jung before he died! 🙂

      1. Interesting, thanks for the info.
        Things in UK are up and down.
        Haha yeah, the problem with writing today is too many share my name. I may have to start using a variation of my full name instead, J.P.R. Campbell, has a ring to it I think.

      2. Squeeky – although I enjoyed Hero with a Thousand Faces I found Aristotle’s Poetics more compelling.

        1. I am going to have to read that. I have a copy of it, I think in The Britannica Great Books series. I did read his Nostradamus Ethics, which was pretty farsighted as I recall. I am kind of bummed, because I ordered a copy of
          “Pandora’s Box: The Changing Aspects of a Mythical Symbol (Bollingen Series (General)) by Panofsky, Dora back on January 6, and it looks it ended up somewhere in your neck of the woods in Tucson, probably at an illegal alien’s house. Sooo, I had to reorder it. But I got Robert Graves’ “Lar Porsena: On The Future of Swearing” in, which has started off in a good fashion.

          But I digress. Is Aristotle’s Poetics a hard read? Oh, and I am going to order “A Man Called Ove” today!

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

          1. No it’s not but it helps to do a History of Philsophy read first. Written in Greek with a lot of squirreled away from the inquisitions of various sides, translated from Greek to Arabic insome cases and then back into Latin and finally English Most of the philosophers works need that head start. Two ways to go buy books or use the ARI.org schools lectures offered at no cost on the net. i knocked out five or ten a day for the large 50 class course but I am retired. Another simiilar source is hillsdale.edu on line courses. they have a number of offering and philosophy is in two parts as I recall.

            THEN decide what books to buy. I get some paper and some kindle. These days there is no reason to stay illiterate and uneducated for anyone but Zappa said it best. For an education go to the library.

          2. Squeeky – A hero with a Thousand Faces is not an easy read since you need to know a thousand heroes. 🙂 Aristotle deconstructs the theatre and then comments on what parts are best and which are not. The Poetics is dense. He doesn’t waste any words or plays. Even if you are seeped in the theatre you will hear of plays that no longer exist.

    2. and don’t forget the ghosts. masks,shields pepper spray matches and cannot be photographed.

    1. and not one smartphone foto just a letter from a student – also unverified . You sink to new depths or more accurately your masters have used you once again. Where’s the facts?

      1. By the description of these similarly equipped outsiders there is no way pictures wouldn’t exist and then you have to ask? Were any identified?

    1. Non students not arrested by the municipal police or by deputized campus police. There’s a reason they weren’t arrested.

  12. “Nonehtheless, pretending that this now fairly common “event” when this jerk is invited somewhere is merely an innocent “conservative” being victimize by a tyrranical left on university campuses is a farcical and false narrative”

    But somehow Michael Brown being lionized as “an innocent young man” being “victimized” by a “tyrannical” police force is not a “farcical and false narrative.

    If Prof. Turley invited you to speak at his campus, should anyone have the right to protest that? Absolutely. Should they have the right to terrorize the campus community in the process? Absolutely not. People might believe you are a vile, disgusting POS but it would be good to have you show up to remove all doubt.

    I got your back. 🙂

    1. I guess you don’t get it. Liberals believe in change before they believe anything else. Yes, the liberals of yesterday would have defended the speech of Milo and any others. The Left has changed. They no longer believe in free speech. Free speech has served its purpose. Now the Left is on to pushing its agenda to the point of no return. We are no longer the “friends on the right,” we are enemies to be destroyed.

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