Recently, death threats and violent protests prevented British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at UC Berkeley. <\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos is known for his cyber bullying of Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones,. <\/p>\n
He encouraged his fans on Twitter to bully her until she deleted her account. He was said to have done this because he thinks shes ugly and fat. <\/p>\n
His actions lead to him being permanently banned from Twitter. <\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos spoke at UC Irvine last year. <\/p>\n
UC Irvine student Catherine Gonzales, a second-year transfer psychology student, said he spent his time telling everyone to vote for Trump. <\/p>\n
He aims to spread his message against political correctness and for free speech on college campuses. <\/p>\n
But, if he wanted to silence Jones, then isnt he only for freedom of speech for himself and not for other people? <\/p>\n
The question remains, should free speech be permitted if it is hateful and\/or degrading? <\/p>\n
The answer is yes, because even if hateful disgusting speech was blocked, the idea behind the words lives on. <\/p>\n
When something is ugly, people dont want to see it. So they silence it without trying to understand it. <\/p>\n
We try to ignore it, and like a virus, it kills us before we were ever able to treat it. <\/p>\n
People threw fireworks and rocks at police during the UC Berkley protests. Clearly, silencing people leads to radicalism. <\/p>\n
Preventing free speech also makes people feel they are being persecuted for their beliefs, which in turn leads to feelings of martyrdom and righteousness. <\/p>\n
When you shut people up, they will do desperate and ugly things to be heard. In reality, by taking away any type of free speech, society could create a much worse beast. <\/p>\n
Critics may say that words started the holocaust. In actuality, it was the silencing of everyone elses words that did; after all, murder is the ultimate deterrent to speech. <\/p>\n
To paraphrase from Holocaust survivor Martin Niemoller, the Nazis came for the socialists, the Jews and the unionists, and he didnt say anything to stop them, but then they came for him and there was no one left to speak up. <\/p>\n
If we let them get rid of the speech we dont like at the moment; whos to say they wont come for our speech next? <\/p>\n
People have forgotten the difference between actions and beliefs. <\/p>\n
No one has the right to force their beliefs on other people and interfere with their lives. <\/p>\n
People have their right to voice their opposition to gay marriage, but they dont have the right to harass them, keep them from getting married or living their lives how they want to live them. <\/p>\n
You have the right to say and believe whatever you want, but you dont have the right to do whatever you want. <\/p>\n
No one, no matter their ranking in society, is a moral authority on who has the right to speak and who doesnt because the meanings of words are not absolute. <\/p>\n
The meanings of words are a subjective discussion within society at the current time, but you cannot discuss whats important or whats moral if youre not allowed to speak. <\/p>\n
College students may feel that the only speech that they want in a learning environment is the one they agree with, but the real world doesnt care if were offended. <\/p>\n
Sexism, racism, rape, xenophobia, suicide, poverty, mental illness, slavery, cancer, death, etc. are all real issues and they cannot be ignored like a homeless person you walk past on the street. Look at the homeless person. <\/p>\n
Look at the issue. It exists. Its real and its not going anywhere just because it makes you feel bad. <\/p>\n
We are defending the right to free expression at an historic moment for our nation, when this right is once again of paramount importance. In this context, we cannot afford to undermine those rights, and feel a need to make a spirited defense of the principle of tolerance, even when it means we tolerate that which may appear to us as intolerant, stated chancellor Nicholas Dirks in his message to UC Berkeley. <\/p>\n
Thankfully, Dirks took a stand against what can only be called fascism. <\/p>\n
So yes, Yiannopoulos stands for disgusting things, but he still has the right to speak. If you want the right to speak, then you must give it to others as well. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Angela Stevens is pasionate about free speech. <\/p>\n
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Follow this link: <\/p>\n
We shouldn't mute free speech - The Poly Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently, death threats and violent protests prevented British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking at UC Berkeley. Yiannopoulos is known for his cyber bullying of Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones,. Continue reading