The current crop of outrage by some students at many universities is something that poses a great danger to American liberty and freedom. One thing that has always separated America from many other countries is that each American is free to have his or her own ideas and to express those ideas freely. That right has sometimes been challenged, but it has always prevailed. Now, it is once again under challenge, and this time the challenge is coming from students and protesters, two groups who have always been among the chief beneficiaries of that right.
Think about what is happening. Groups are adopting the mantle of victimhood. Then steps are demanded to protect the new victims. Anyone who speaks in opposition to those steps is immediately branded as evil and prevented from speaking. Indeed, any opposition is not just silenced, but erased. Even those who do not speak in opposition but who do not conform to the demands in rapid enough fashion are to be destroyed. The subject matter has sometimes been trivial. At one school, the firing of two professors was demanded when they wrote an email to students calling for a tolerant view of Halloween costumes that one group or another might call offensive. In essence, the view they expressed was that a student dressed in a Halloween costume as an Indian was not cause for upset. The maelstrom which followed all but destroyed those professors' careers. The campus left had spoken and it would not tolerate opposition or even discussion of that view.
This desire to silence and destroy all opposition is not limited to the campus left; it is a common thread for much of the left across America. The climate change debate is perhaps the best example. That debate began when some scientists posited the theory that increasing carbon dioxide resulting from human activity would cause the planet to warm significantly with all sort of disastrous effects. As cash from environmental groups and then governments poured into research on the subject, computer models were developed to show the full extent of the looming disaster. Many of the scientists who were the most vocal in support of the theory were not even climatologists, but that did not stop them. There were some voices that spoke in opposition to the theory, but they were few and far between. Then something important happened: the models on which the structure of the global warming theory was based proved to be incorrect. Actual data was collected by systems put in place to measure the extent of warming which showed that the climate was acting in a way that was inconsistent with the predictions of the models. In most scientific debates, the accumulation of statistically significant data which differed from the output predicted by the model would mean general agreement that the model was wrong. But global warming had moved from a scientific theory to part of the accepted dogma of the left. It was, after all, a scientific theory that permitted the left to blame a looming planetary disaster on the developed world and capitalistic economic development, one of their favorite subjects.
So what happened? The left did not engage in much debate about the validity of the global warming theory. Instead, they went with their impulse to try to destroy those who do not agree with them. People who spoke about the actual data and how it showed that global warming theory was wrong were labeled "deniers", something akin to holocaust deniers. They were made out to be cranks and crackpots. The mainstream media, usually in lockstep with the left, chose not to talk about the so called deniers, and instead it kept promoting the global warming theory. More and more data, however, kept coming in to show that the global warming theories and models were wrong. The polar ice was shown to be increasing rather than decreasing. The frequency of severe weather fell substantially over more than a decade despite global warming predictions of ever worsening storms. And the truth broke through to a large part of the American people. Oh, the left and its ally, the mainstream media, did not end their attack on their opponents. Instead, they intensified that attack. Lately, there have been persistent calls from the left to indict those who oppose global warming theory. Since the data does not support their views, the left wants to put their opponents in prison. People like Hillary Clinton also talk about investigating large companies like Exxon because they did not sufficiently warn about the ills of global warming, the same global warming that the data says does not exist. In other words, there is a full scale, government supported onslaught against those who dare to express opposition to the failed global warming theory.
In the latest manifestation of this authoritarian behavior on the left, we are getting outbursts in response to "microagressions" and also demands to expunge history with which the left disagrees. At Princeton, the demand has been made to expunge Woodrow Wilson from everything at that university. Wilson, you see, was a racist. Well that is no surprise to anyone who studies history. Wilson, indeed was many things: a racists, a Democrat, a progressive, and president of the United States. He was far from perfect. He gladly accepted the support of the Ku Klux Klan. He supported Margaret Sanger and the policies she promoted at Planned Parenthood to reduce the population of undesirables like African Americans and Asians. That, however, is not a reason to erase him from Princeton. He is, after all, part of the history of that institution. The protestors, however, don't care. they demand, DEMAND, that Wilson be erased. They will tolerate no opposing viewpoint.
For many years, this krypto-fascist behavior by the left has manifest itself on campuses. Just think how many stories you have read over the years about this or that speaker being shouted down when he or she attempted to speak to a campus group. The college left was not interested in debating ideas. They want only to prevent any expression of opposing views. Now imagine what would happen were the sides to be reversed. Imagine a speaker promoting a mainstream leftist viewpoint being interrupted by a vocal group of fraternity brothers who just shout and shout and prevent the speaker from being heard. Imagine the media coverage of that event. Imagine the reaction of the college administration to this assault on free speech. Imagine the outrage of all the liberal institutions were the same tactics used to silence one of their own.
The truth is that as Americans were need to protect our liberties and freedoms. If we permit leftist thugs to shut down the free expression of ideas in one place, our freedom is limited in all places. We need to speak up as a nation and tell the left that we will not accept their descent into authoritarianism. America has fought wars to prevent that from happening on a global scale; we are not about to accept it happening here in our own country.
Think about what is happening. Groups are adopting the mantle of victimhood. Then steps are demanded to protect the new victims. Anyone who speaks in opposition to those steps is immediately branded as evil and prevented from speaking. Indeed, any opposition is not just silenced, but erased. Even those who do not speak in opposition but who do not conform to the demands in rapid enough fashion are to be destroyed. The subject matter has sometimes been trivial. At one school, the firing of two professors was demanded when they wrote an email to students calling for a tolerant view of Halloween costumes that one group or another might call offensive. In essence, the view they expressed was that a student dressed in a Halloween costume as an Indian was not cause for upset. The maelstrom which followed all but destroyed those professors' careers. The campus left had spoken and it would not tolerate opposition or even discussion of that view.
This desire to silence and destroy all opposition is not limited to the campus left; it is a common thread for much of the left across America. The climate change debate is perhaps the best example. That debate began when some scientists posited the theory that increasing carbon dioxide resulting from human activity would cause the planet to warm significantly with all sort of disastrous effects. As cash from environmental groups and then governments poured into research on the subject, computer models were developed to show the full extent of the looming disaster. Many of the scientists who were the most vocal in support of the theory were not even climatologists, but that did not stop them. There were some voices that spoke in opposition to the theory, but they were few and far between. Then something important happened: the models on which the structure of the global warming theory was based proved to be incorrect. Actual data was collected by systems put in place to measure the extent of warming which showed that the climate was acting in a way that was inconsistent with the predictions of the models. In most scientific debates, the accumulation of statistically significant data which differed from the output predicted by the model would mean general agreement that the model was wrong. But global warming had moved from a scientific theory to part of the accepted dogma of the left. It was, after all, a scientific theory that permitted the left to blame a looming planetary disaster on the developed world and capitalistic economic development, one of their favorite subjects.
So what happened? The left did not engage in much debate about the validity of the global warming theory. Instead, they went with their impulse to try to destroy those who do not agree with them. People who spoke about the actual data and how it showed that global warming theory was wrong were labeled "deniers", something akin to holocaust deniers. They were made out to be cranks and crackpots. The mainstream media, usually in lockstep with the left, chose not to talk about the so called deniers, and instead it kept promoting the global warming theory. More and more data, however, kept coming in to show that the global warming theories and models were wrong. The polar ice was shown to be increasing rather than decreasing. The frequency of severe weather fell substantially over more than a decade despite global warming predictions of ever worsening storms. And the truth broke through to a large part of the American people. Oh, the left and its ally, the mainstream media, did not end their attack on their opponents. Instead, they intensified that attack. Lately, there have been persistent calls from the left to indict those who oppose global warming theory. Since the data does not support their views, the left wants to put their opponents in prison. People like Hillary Clinton also talk about investigating large companies like Exxon because they did not sufficiently warn about the ills of global warming, the same global warming that the data says does not exist. In other words, there is a full scale, government supported onslaught against those who dare to express opposition to the failed global warming theory.
In the latest manifestation of this authoritarian behavior on the left, we are getting outbursts in response to "microagressions" and also demands to expunge history with which the left disagrees. At Princeton, the demand has been made to expunge Woodrow Wilson from everything at that university. Wilson, you see, was a racist. Well that is no surprise to anyone who studies history. Wilson, indeed was many things: a racists, a Democrat, a progressive, and president of the United States. He was far from perfect. He gladly accepted the support of the Ku Klux Klan. He supported Margaret Sanger and the policies she promoted at Planned Parenthood to reduce the population of undesirables like African Americans and Asians. That, however, is not a reason to erase him from Princeton. He is, after all, part of the history of that institution. The protestors, however, don't care. they demand, DEMAND, that Wilson be erased. They will tolerate no opposing viewpoint.
For many years, this krypto-fascist behavior by the left has manifest itself on campuses. Just think how many stories you have read over the years about this or that speaker being shouted down when he or she attempted to speak to a campus group. The college left was not interested in debating ideas. They want only to prevent any expression of opposing views. Now imagine what would happen were the sides to be reversed. Imagine a speaker promoting a mainstream leftist viewpoint being interrupted by a vocal group of fraternity brothers who just shout and shout and prevent the speaker from being heard. Imagine the media coverage of that event. Imagine the reaction of the college administration to this assault on free speech. Imagine the outrage of all the liberal institutions were the same tactics used to silence one of their own.
The truth is that as Americans were need to protect our liberties and freedoms. If we permit leftist thugs to shut down the free expression of ideas in one place, our freedom is limited in all places. We need to speak up as a nation and tell the left that we will not accept their descent into authoritarianism. America has fought wars to prevent that from happening on a global scale; we are not about to accept it happening here in our own country.
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