Am I the only one who sees a big difference between shouting down a speaker and just protesting outside?

I keep seeing news reports, like one from the University of Michigan last month, that call any student protest a 'free speech violation'. But there's a huge gap between peacefully holding signs outside an event and actually stopping the talk from happening. The first one is free speech, the second one isn't. Has your campus had this debate too?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron_ellis421mo ago

Spot the difference between protest and heckler's veto.

jesse_cooper1mo ago

A protest makes a point the public can see and engage with, even if it's inconvenient. A heckler's veto shuts down someone else's speech through noise or threats, which is a different thing entirely. Once you start blocking people from speaking just because you don't like their message, the whole idea of free assembly falls apart.