I had a long night, so I slept in. The news never sleeps, though, unlike my dead ass. Richard Dawkins went off on the “safe space” wave that’s been sweeping college campuses the last few years. I could see the beginnings of it even when I was last in college (2011). Now it’s gotten a lot worse, though.
We’ve talked about this issue a lot in the past, because it feel it is of vital importance to the fight against not only SJWs, but also the one against ignorance. If you refuse to ever have your views challenged you’re never going to learn anything. It’s not about automatically accepting conflicting or controversial views. Go in there, sharpen your blade, and make your own arguments better. That’s what it’s all about. Anyway, I’ve ranted enough. Let’s get on to what Dawkins had to say…
Well OF COURSE if university societies want to invite flat earthers, Islamic "scholars" etc to speak, they should be welcomed with courtesy.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) October 24, 2015
A university is not a "safe space". If you need a safe space, leave, go home, hug your teddy & suck your thumb until ready for university.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) October 24, 2015
Students who suppress a distinguished scholar’s lecture because they disagree with her have no place in a university https://t.co/jgAeJGvzoB
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) October 24, 2015
I couldn’t agree with Dawkins more! People like this don’t even belong on campus. If you can’t handle the free and open exchange of ideas, all ideas, then you need to get the fuck out. He went on to quote a new article in The Wall Street Journal (which itself is an excerpt from New Criterion). This is the most disturbing shit I think I’ve read all year from a free speech standpoint. It’s a another frightening sign of the times…
To put some numbers behind that perception, The William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale recently commissioned a survey from McLaughlin & Associates about attitudes towards free speech on campus. Some 800 students at a variety of colleges across the country were surveyed. The results, though not surprising, are nevertheless alarming. By a margin of 51 percent to 36 percent, students favor their school having speech codes to regulate speech for students and faculty. Sixty-three percent favor requiring professors to employ “trigger warnings” to alert students to material that might be discomfiting. One-third of the students polled could not identify the First Amendment as the part of the Constitution that dealt with free speech. Thirty-five percent said that the First Amendment does not protect “hate speech,” while 30 percent of self-identified liberal students say the First Amendment is outdated. With the assault on free speech and the First Amendment proceeding apace in institutions once dedicated to robust intellectual debate, it is no wonder that there are more and more calls to criminalize speech that dissents from the party line on any number of issues, from climate change to race relations, to feminism and sex.
This is the first news hit of the day, so buckle up. I might be doing a live blog on the WWE show later tonight over on the sister site, but I’ll have more about that up later if it happens. Check out the Killstream when you get a chance, and I’ll have a proper replay thread for that up later as well. See you guys here in a minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0i46n6DQC4
