We suggest you read A Yinnopoulos, Bannon, Trump Plot to Control American Universities? by Robert Reich.
The liberals in the US, as elsewhere, have not only lost their bearings but also lost sight of the principle that defines them — liberty, a most important aspect of which is free speech. Liberals have forgotten Voltaire and John Stuart Mill, the great ideas and ideals that the Enlightenment stood for, everything that the West can be justifiably proud of. What they only remember are the dubious, duplicitous doctrines like multiculturalism and political correctness. Nothing else explains their bile against Milo Yiannopoulos.
Senior editor with Breitbart News, the pro-Trump media house, Yiannopoulos was invited to speak at Berkeley University on Wednesday by a group of conservative students. The event was, however, called off because of vehement, violent protests from liberal students.
According to Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, “long-standing campus policy permits registered student organizations to invite speakers to campus and to make free use of meeting space in the Student Union for that purpose.” Therefore, “consistent with the dictates of the First Amendment as uniformly and decisively interpreted by the courts, the university cannot censor or prohibit events, or charge differential fees.”
Even Peter Beinart, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, a prominent liberal magazine, found this “a strong argument.” An associate professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York, Beinart is a committed anti-conservative. He says that “Trump practices demagoguery, bigotry, and cruelty. He does not deserve the deference granted a normal president.” Further, he accuses Yiannopoulos of “viciously mocking women, trans people, and African Americans.”
Beinart believes that “letting Yiannopoulos speak is… a matter of principle. Conservative students have the right to bring obnoxious bigots to speak on campus and other students have a right to protest.”
Unfortunately, not many liberals take that stand. After maligning, if not banishing, Right Wing views from academics and the mainstream media, they just want to silence conservatives and libertarians by hook or by crook—even if that involves condoning the violence perpetrated by fanatical anti-Right activists.
Meanwhile spreading calumny and canards against Rightists continue unabated. So, Berkeley University officials made the unsubstantiated charge against Yiannopoulos that he intended to use the talk to expose the identity of students without proper documentation to live in the US. “We are deeply concerned for all students’ safety and ability to pursue their education here at Cal beyond Milo’s speech,” the university’s Office of Student Affairs said in a letter sent to Berkeley College Republicans, the body that was organizing the event. “Milo’s event may be used to target individuals, either in the audience or by using their personal information in a way that causes them to become human targets to serve a political agenda.”
Speaking to The Independent, Yiannopoulos denied the allegation, calling it “a total fabrication.”
The allegation doesn’t make any sense anyway. First, being close to President Donald Trump, Yiannopoulos need not have to reveal the names of illegal aliens in the public to draw attention of the government to the subject; he just had to inform Trump and expect desired results. Second, even if he was about to disclose the names of students without documentation, would he have been acting obnoxiously? Won’t he have been performing the duty of a concerned citizen?
Liberals jihad against Yiannopoulos is as unrelenting as it is vicious. In their rage, they even tend to ignore basic facts. So, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin accused Yiannopoulos of being a “white nationalist.” But soon the mayor realized that a gay, Jewish writer can scarcely be called a white supremacist. So, he tweeted, “I consider much of what Mr. Yiannopoulos says to be hateful. But I regret and apologize for the white national label.”
Arreguin’s initial outburst is symptomatic of a deep-seated malaise of contemporary liberalism: anybody not subscribing to their views is abominable. This is apart from the moral equivalence that they shamelessly deploy in the public utterances—equating violence of ‘a small minority’ with the views expressed by Rightists. In fact, Right Wing opinion attracts more flak from liberals than violence which is euphemistically called ‘protest.’ And Right Wwng action, like President Trump’s threat to cut funds to Berkeley University in the wake of violence, makes liberals mad. Their madness grows by the day.
One can only hope that saner liberal voices, like that of Beinart, will find some resonance in their echo chamber.
- Liberty Is Penalized, Violence Goes Untouched - December 21, 2019
- Rahul’s Howdy bloomer - September 22, 2019
- Chidambaram’s hypocrisy - August 22, 2019
Robert Reich’s articles have turned into a rant ,a waste of time.pGurus will do well to project both sides of the argument that is going on currently in US of A through writers who have reason,cojent arguments not thro’ idiots frothing in their mouths.We have enough interesting material to read, save us the rants.