At the start of this month, Christopher Newport University welcomed the award-winning journalist Sophia Nelson as a scholar-in-residence. Nelson is known as an independent and at times contrarian figure, including being a Republican who opposed Donald Trump. Now however students and faculty are calling for her to be terminated after she tweeted her opposition to the decision by DC Comics to make Superman a bisexual figure.
The tweet unleashed a firestorm. One student, student Abigail Honeycutt, is quoted as saying that “Reading her tweet, we felt uncomfortable and scared in a place we are supposed to call our home.”CNU President President Paul Trible called for healing and reflection, according to WTKR reports.
Nelson lashed out at the cancel culture:
We are cannibalizing one another with #CancelCulture it has to stop or I promise you in a decade or less America will no longer be America. It’s bullying. They are mean, nasty bullies. Vicious with their words, with intimidation and hatred in their hearts. And there is no excuse for ever bullying another human being because they made a mistake, messed up, misspoke, were just caught being simply human.
There is a wave coming. A movement of sick and tired Americans. Tired of being pushed around and bullied, canceled, targeted, harassed for our faith beliefs, for our values, for our free thought and free speech. Today it’s me in the crosshairs. Tomorrow it’s you.
However, she deleted her tweet.
For those seeking to fire Nelson, consider the implications of such an action. Today we discussed another faculty member who was allegedly terminated due to her use of social media to criticize Vice President Michael Pence. Nelson was expressing her view of a cartoon character and social divisions surrounding bisexuality. I understand why many find the comment offensive. Other share her view. The solution is free speech in responding to her viewpoint rather than a campaign to silence her.
We have previously discussed the worrisome signs of a rising generation of censors in the country as leaders and writers embrace censorship and blacklisting. New polls show that sixty-six percent of college students think shouting down a speaker to stop them from speaking is a legitimate form of free speech. Another 23 percent believe violence can be used to cancel a speech. That is roughly one out of four supporting violence. A prior poll shows roughly half of the public supporting not just corporate censorship but government censorship of anything deemed “misinformation.”
Calls to fire Nelson will not be successful. CNU is a public university that is subject to not just contractual but constitutional limitations. The First Amendment will prevent such a termination or force the intervention of a court.
Superman once said that “a superhero is just an ordinary person who has found a better way to mask their human frailties.” One of those frailties is the intolerance for opposing views and the desire to keep opposing values from being voiced or heard. After all Clark Kent is a journalist. The greatest danger on the CNU campus is not Nelson’s view of bisexuality or superheroes. It is the villainy of speech intolerance and censorship.
Here is another example of Scholastic Freedom….and speech that makes me question what kind of education system it is that allows such shallow thinking to be considered protected speech….and worry how much of it is being injected into the “education” of students.
I always thought Colleges and Universities were supposed to be centers of enlightenment, transfer of knowledge from peer reviewed research, and examination of history and science….not just pure raw indoctrination.
Perhaps Professor Turley might take an opportunity to explain his views on the role, techniques, standards, and values that should be part of a proper University or College teaching environment.
I always learned…starting in Junior High School….that in science a single instance of differing results repudiated a theory.
Accordingly, as I am White, and supported Trump and voted for him twice…..I can assure this Professor described in the linked article that I personally have had zero effect, influence, role, or control over Covid infection in the Black Community thus I challenge her observations and state categorically she is wrong. This”MF’er” ain’t guilty as charged by her.
Somehow I just cannot imagine any…not one….ever….of my College and University Professors using such language or endorsing such language as they demonstrated a truly educated person just does not use that kind of language in public.
But…I guess Professor Turley shall grant her a pass as usual….which makes me question why he defends such language from a fellow Educator.
By doing so….remaining quiet even….does he contribute to the lowering of the educational standards in this country?
Sometimes our best intentions lead us astray….and I would hope that he does not intend that to be the case with. his seemingly blanket defense of such speech.
My point is speech is not to be suppressed….but the tone and manner of speech surely can be challenged if we seek to improve the quality of communication and thus get a better result from the dialogue.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-gotta-take-these-motherfers-out-rutgers-assoc-professor-rages-against-white-people?%3Futm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=062316-podcast&utm_campaign=andrewklavan&fbclid=IwAR07RIEOgfsm0GoioWWcTR7qd2G0N9UR3XAeswvgkgUIBMiLnspa_RL1Lmg
Let’s do a social experiment.
Let’s remake Black Panther into a gay man, or we could go whole hog and make him a white woman who identifies as gender fluid queer and black.
If anyone in the black community has a problem with an iconic hero being so drastically changed, be sure to denigrate them as bigots.
I can tolerate intolerance for opposing views. I cannot tolerate the “keep[ing] of opposing values from being voiced or heard.” Who was that guy in the 1970s with his book, “The Medium is the Message,” — something like marshall mcluhan or something? We must resist the censorship and control of MEDIA and institutions (and search engines like Google) by a one-sided political agenda.
Jonathan: Sophia Nelson is not the only one to resort to biblical teachings to defend the indefensible. Rolling Stone has a bombshell report that Trump allies in Congress were deeply involved in the planning and coordination of the Jan. 6 insurrection with the White House. Among those were Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Mel Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Louie Gohmert and Lauren Boebert–including their staffs. Defending her actions Boebert tweeted a passage from the Bible: ” For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17). Reliance on the Bible is the last resort of scoundrels! Boebert has received a lot of blowback for her tweet including another quote from the Bible that Boebert chose to ignore, this one from Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community”. Certainly a more appropriate description of Boebert’s actions.
Many Democrats are calling for the expulsion of the aforementioned. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says: “Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation’s Capitol must be expelled”. This is because any elected official who engaged in or supported a rebellion or insurrection against the US has violated their oath of office. The House Committee investigating Jan. 6 has taken testimony from witnesses to the GOP chicanery. One witness says Louie Gohmert promised pardons for anyone involved in the planning for the Jan.6 events. Probably because Gohmert knew crimes were about to be committed.
We take pride in the separation of church and state. When members of Congress resort to Biblical quotes to justify their unlawful attempts to overturn a legitimate election you know our Democracy is in deep trouble!
You are deranged. Please seek help.
Dennis, I could not disagree more with your view of January 6th, 2021. The limited footage available, recent public disclosure from real investigators, and the one day Impeachment exercised by Nancy Pelosi all demonstrate it was a small group of renegades that stormed the Capitol, followed up by courteous Capital Police opening doors, and assisting a few hundred Trump supporters into the building.
I do agree it was staged, but aside from those initial renegades, climbing walls and breaking windows, it had no resemblance of an insurrection or coup attempt.
Regarding scripture, I have no idea if every Republican, Democrat, or pastor is sincere with their use of God’s Word. As a follower of Christ, however, the Bible has taught me to discern the actions of others by their fruits. When applying that, it is fairly simple to determine the well disguised wolves from the sheep.