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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 4/27/17

Win the Debate, Don't Shut It Down

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-"Hate speech" is not free speech, according to those trying to prevent public appearances by various conservatives ( the Supreme Court disagreed.) But even if the court ruled otherwise, who would get to determine what hate speech is? Would any citizen who accuses someone else of hate speech have the right to prevent the accused from appearing in public? If so, when students label people like Milo Yiannopoulos, Charles Murray, Richard Spencer and Ann Coulter as "racist," "Nazi," "fascist" or "white supremacist," who would get to decide if the students themselves were engaging in hate speech?

-What are students and liberals so afraid of? If the people they are blocking from speaking are as bad as they claim, why not let them speak publicly and make fools of themselves? Do students such as those at UC Berkeley not believe that their fellow students are wise enough to identify distorted views? I've had public discussion with pro-war people who say things like, "bomb them all" or "turn the Middle East into a parking lot." Not that I'm happy to hear anybody utter such words, but I know it helps my cause, and not theirs. Why don't anti-conservative students feel the same way?

-In many cases, it appears as though college students (spurred on by their professors, administrators, anti-Trumpism, the Democratic Party and liberal media) believe they have the final say in who gets to speak. It makes you wonder how college students can get an education when they are unwilling to hear both sides (or multiple sides) of an argument?

-Why does intolerance permeate many liberal circles today? Why are so many colleges (and liberal institutions) so hostile towards white people, men, heterosexuals and conservatives? Why have so many fallen into the trap of oversimplified identity politics?

Shelby Steele, Senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution offers one explanation:

"White guilt is not actual guilt. Surely most whites are not assailed in the night by feelings of responsibility for America's historical mistreatment of minorities. "White guilt is not angst over injustices suffered by others; it is the terror of being stigmatized with America's old bigotries, racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia. To be stigmatized as a fellow traveler with any of these bigotries is to be utterly stripped of moral authority and made into a pariah. "White guilt is a mock guilt, a pretense of real guilt, a shallow etiquette of empathy, pity and regret." It is also the heart and soul of contemporary liberalism. This liberalism is the politics given to us by white guilt, and it shares white guilt's central corruption. It is not real liberalism, in the classic sense. It is a mock liberalism. Freedom is not its raison d'Ã ªtre; moral authority is."

Liberals/Hollywood/pop culture are creating an environment of hyper-political-correctness, where anybody who doesn't share their worldview can be demonized and ostracized. Immigration, abortion, race relations -- regardless of the topic, watch liberals who are asked questions about their views -- the typical response is avoiding the question, shouting down the questioner, and ultimately calling the person a racist, xenophobe, homophobe, misogynist, etc.

Examples of today's hyper-PC culture are offered below (this list is a follow-up to 30 Incidents of Out of Control Liberals .) These are instances of colleges and/or liberals in the US - and around the world - who apparently believe that their own interpretation of what is right or wrong is the only acceptable option.

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Chris Ernesto is cofounder of St. Pete for Peace, an antiwar organization in St. Petersburg, FL that has been active since 2003. Mr. Ernesto also created and manages OccupyArrests.com and USinAfrica.com.

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