Know Your Right-Wing Speakers, but let them speak
| By halperindavid - Oct 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Regarding the Columbia U. / Minutemen controversy: From the start at Campus Progress, we've produced a feature called Know Your Right-Wing Speakers, providing hard-hitting and provocative but accurate and truthful profiles of leading conservatives. A key purpose is to help students prepare for campus visits by these individuals -- to prepare articles, posters, campaigns, questions to ask at events. At the same time, we have condemned actions by protestors to silence speakers by shouting them down, throwing pies at them, or otherwise engaging in intimidation or violence. Jim Gilchrist, the head of the Minuteman Project, came to Columbia University in New York last Wednesday with an anti-immigration message that we strongly oppose. But we also oppose the decision of students to storm the stage and halt the event. Confront outrageous speech with the power of your values and your ideas. Support free speech on your campus. With the power of Campus Progress and all the other efforts to intensify student activism and advocacy, the best ideas will prevail.
David Halperin
Director, Campus Progress
David Halperin
Director, Campus Progress
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All they did was reinforce in Gilchrist's mind and the minds of his followers that extremists disagree with their position.
You really want to stick it to one of these right-wing hacks? Fill the audience with people that disagree with them, and let them talk--then don't clap at the end. Sit silently. It'll KILL their ego.
There is no equal free speech in this country. Certain groups have more resources and more power. The effectiveness of fighting with your ideas alone assumes equal discourse.
If you don't have power - you need to think of creative ways to get more or amplify your voice. You can debate about the effectiveness of this particular direct action, but I have no problem with disrupting racist speech
I'm glad you posted! And I do agree with you, but also David, which leaves me torn on this issue. I wish that we were on equal footing so we could fight the battle of ideas. At the same time, pulling stunts like this makes it harder to win over those in the middle. This just reinforces the "crazy activists" image that so many moderates have. Is it enough to push them over to the other side? Maybe. But, if we continue to allow people like the Minutemen to dominate campus speech and give hate speech the same forum we would to a speaker we respect, I'm not sure we're doing the right thing, or keeping our campus environments a place where everyone feels safe. I think when we were talking about this, you brought up the Danish cartoons... so I'll bring it up again, to other readers out there. Would you have allowed those cartoons to be published under the pretense of free speech? okay, go - keep the comments rolling.
Did you really just claim that "people like the Minutemen...dominate campus speech"?
They behaved like a bunch of criminals with no respect for private property.
If they think that's going to get any thinking person (or, hell, anyone over the age of 25) to respect their politics, they're not just thugs, they're stupid thugs to boot.
That's beside the point, though - even if storming the stage were magically a politically important event, it'd still be wrong to do.
At my school, I was looking into the mechanics of getting Jim Gilchrist to come, because it'd be a really interesting event for our student body. Like him or not (and I don't like him, really), he's an interesting newsmaker with a perspective to share. It saddens me to see that another school snagged him but a group of assholes ruined it for everyone.
How about next time, they put on their own speaker the next day? Oh, wait, it feels more rebellious to be a dick to the guy who disagrees with you than actually put your own event together.
Actually, even more than that, they were treating their fellow students terribly - the ones who came to hear Gilchrist speak, but even more than that the ones who put in the time and effort to put on the event.
Have any of you guys ever done flyering and avertising for campus events? I assume so - so you'll know what I mean when I say it's really pretty hard work. :) To see all that work go to waste is really unfair.