Used to think banning a speaker was always wrong... until that Proud Boys invite at my old school

Back in 2019 I was all about 'let everyone speak' no matter what. Then my community college in Medford invited this guy from the Proud Boys to talk. I mean I still think free speech matters but watching that event turn into a dumpster fire where people got shoved and threatened changed my mind a bit. Idk maybe there's a line somewhere. Has anyone else had a specific situation flip how they feel about this stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_beth1mo ago

That's a fair point about watching something actually go sideways changing your mind. But here's the thing I'd want to dig into: what exactly was the line for you? Was it the threat of actual physical violence happening, or was it more about the tone of the speech itself? Like, if the guy had just stood there and said some offensive stuff but nobody got shoved, would you still be cool with it? I'm trying to figure out if the line is about safety or if it's about the ideas being too extreme to even give a platform. Because those feel like two different things to me.

morgan3161mo ago

That really nails it @the_beth, same thing happened to me watching a guy rant at a town hall until he actually shoved someone...