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View Full Version : The Spurious Move to Stifle Speech on Campus Because it is 'Dehumanizing'



Chris
11-20-2017, 02:36 PM
More campus push t limit free speech.

The Spurious Move to Stifle Speech on Campus Because it is 'Dehumanizing' (http://reason.com/archives/2017/11/17/the-move-to-stifle-speech-on-campus-beca)


Robert Spencer — the controversial author and founder of the blog Jihad Watch — spoke Tuesday at Stanford University at the invitation of the university's College Republicans. The event proceeded relatively peacefully, with minimal disruption.

But there were many who believed Stanford should never have allowed Spencer to speak in the first place, including a group of Stanford faculty and students who published an open letter urging the university to block Spencer's talk.

The argument of the letter's authors is that while they "fully support the principle of academic freedom that allows us to disagree about issues," Spencer's views on Islam are "not debatable" because they are "fundamentally dehumanizing."

Whenever the claim is made that an identity group is inherently less worthy of full personhood — whether that claim is made about people who are Muslim, Rohingya, Jewish, Black, trans or gender non-conforming, Bosnian, queer, immigrants, Mexican, etc. — it is always unacceptable.

This has quickly become one of the most common, insidious, and dangerously slippery-slope arguments against free speech on college campuses and beyond. Let's set aside for a moment that even most truly "dehumanizing" speech is protected by the First Amendment. (Although Stanford is not a public university, California's Leonard Law applies the protections of the First Amendment to non-sectarian private schools.) The reality on campus is that any debate over any controversial issue will, for proponents of this viewpoint, unjustly demean the value of someone's identity.

...

William
11-20-2017, 04:55 PM
AFIK, the British Home Office banned Robert Spencer from even entering Great Britain in 2013 - I guess they must have some pretty good reasons for that.


Robert Spencer is the editor of Jihad Watch. Spencer’s reputation for bias often precedes him. In June 2013, Great Britain’s Home Office banned Spencer from entering the country where he had planned to speak at a rally planned by the anti-Muslim English Defense League, a group known for violent street demonstrations.http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-individuals/robert-spencer/78-robert-spencer.html

I actually don't like the idea of banning speech - we should let people, including students, see nutters for what they are - but I guess the authorities must have their reasons.

Chris
11-20-2017, 05:20 PM
AFIK, the British Home Office banned Robert Spencer from even entering Great Britain in 2013 - I guess they must have some pretty good reasons for that.

http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-individuals/robert-spencer/78-robert-spencer.html

I actually don't like the idea of banning speech - we should let people, including students, see nutters for what they are - but I guess the authorities must have their reasons.

Yes, he and Pamela Geller were going to speak at a English Defence League march, and Home Secretary Theresa May deemed their appearance would "not be conducive to the public good". @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spencer_(author)#Ban_from_entering_the_UK

I don't agree with him but would not prevent him from speaking.

The EDL can get nasty.

Mister D
11-20-2017, 07:36 PM
Islamophobia lol

Mister D
11-20-2017, 07:38 PM
Yes, he and Pamela Geller were going to speak at a English Defence League march, and Home Secretary Theresa May deemed their appearance would "not be conducive to the public good". @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spencer_(author)#Ban_from_entering_the_UK

I don't agree with him but would not prevent him from speaking.


The EDL can get nasty.

Using meaningless terms like "Islamophobia" to shut down debate only make Spencer look like the one with an edge.

Chris
11-20-2017, 08:43 PM
There should be no shutting down of free speech. Just because I disagree with Spencer on certain points is no reason to shut him down, it is, in fact, reason to let him speak. Then I can speak. And you can decide.