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My free speech law class beat my debate club for actually hearing both sides
I sat in on a free speech seminar at Ohio State last spring and the prof made us read the actual court rulings behind the speaker bans instead of just arguing about them. Compare that to my debate club, where we picked teams based on feelings and nobody changed their mind once. The law class forced me to defend a position I hated, and that did more for how I think about campus speakers than 2 years of shouting matches. Anyone else notice that reading the real cases changes your take way more than hearing the hot takes?
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patriciam2223d ago
Reading the actual cases is a game changer because it forces you to deal with what the law actually says instead of what you wish it said. When I was in school we did the same thing with Tinker and Hazelwood and it totally killed half the arguments I used to make. My advice is to grab the case briefs for the big speech rulings and read the dissents too, they show you where the fights really are. Then in your debate club, make everyone argue the side they hate, no switching back, that one rule alone will change the whole room. It's way harder to shout past someone when you've had to stand in their shoes for a week.
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