The Left Isn't the 'Free Speech Movement' Any More

Photo of Tim Graham.

In schools and colleges across America, teachers and professors recall the "Free Speech Movement" of the hard left at Berkeley in the 1960s. But today's left often shreds that idea in its own intolerant behavior. At Michigan State University, British Nationalist Nick Griffin was shouted down from a speech on the danger of radical Islam. The Lansing State Journal reported: "Hurling obscenities and using chants to interrupt his address, rambunctious student organizations forced Griffin to abandon his speech and allow an informal question and answer session." This liberal quote is a classic:

"We have all come from different backgrounds," said Authra Khreis, 17, a pre-med student and a protester. "We should accept one another. I don't think he should be allowed to speak. You can use free speech until you hurt another person."

Another example is the hacking of our friend Jonah Goldberg. His forthcoming book "Liberal Fascism" was hacked at Amazon.com, reports Editor and Publisher. The working subtitle is "The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning." The hacker changed it to "The Totalitarian Temptation from When I Got My Advance Until I Finally Hand in the Manuscript in 2011." It was still carrying the joke subtitle when I just checked.)

I think Jonah would admit that's mildly humorous. His book has had several subtitles, and he didn't enjoy one that included Hillary Clinton. (Brent Bozell asked to the change the subtitle of our book Whitewash, and Crown Forum has delayed its release several times from its original date in September 2006, so book buyers should know it's a collaborative process with the publisher.) But the hacker is making Amazon look as bad as Goldberg does.

Finally, did you see the kerfuffle the John Edwards campaign created around a college student reporter? The Raleigh News and Observer reported they demanded that Carla Babb, a reporter for the college TV station at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, pull down her "Republican"-sounding report on their headquarters:

Babb, 23, interviewed an Edwards volunteer and a campus columnist about the campaign's headquarters in the upscale Southern Village shopping center in Chapel Hill.

She posted it on YouTube on Tuesday night. The next morning, Colleen Murray, a spokeswoman for the Edwards campaign, called her.

"She said this sounds like it came straight from the Republican Party," Babb said. "She was like, 'This has to come down.' "

Babb referred Murray to her faculty adviser, C.A. Tuggle. Murray and Edwards' communications director, Chris Kofinis, then called Tuggle. He said they asked him not to air the story and to pull it from YouTube.

Tuggle said they threatened to cut off access to Edwards for UNC reporters and other student groups if he did not pull the piece. He declined to do so.

After another UNC professor blogged about the tussle, news spread across the Internet. The video was linked to by the popular online news site The Drudge Report, and reporters for The New York Times called Babb's home.

Tuggle said the Edwards campaign's actions backfired.

"My gosh, what are they thinking?" he said. "They're spending this much time and effort on a student newscast that has about 2,000 viewers? They're turning a molehill into a mountain."

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center


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Controlling free speech is only 1 aspect of the left's ideology

"Until you hurt another person." 

Their demands for politically correct speech are an indicator of the socialistic, totalitarian control of all aspects of our lives they envision, and that is only a way-point to communism. 

Sounds like it is working

We should accept one another. I don't think he should be allowed to speak. You can use free speech until you hurt another person."

 Sounds like the BS that is being poured into these young skulls full of mush is working. What happened to " Stick and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?" That is how I was taught.

 

Southern by birth, Tarheel by the grace of God!

I don't think he should be

I don't think he should be allowed to speak. You can use free speech until you hurt another person." -student protestor

And that, my friends, says it all.

And this protestor (name doesn't matter; insert anything) and his big-mouthed friends will decide who is "hurting" another person.

Did it occur to him that by hurling obscenities at the speaker, they were hurting HIM? I know I would certainly be offended if a gang of protestors were "hurling obscenities" at me.

Irony

TotalKaosDave

Irony is lost on the stupid. I'm sure they don't understand how ironic that statement and their behavior are. Liberalism will do that to you.

They don't teach logic anymore.

"We should accept one another. I don't think he should be allowed to speak." Man, that says it all about the "logic" of modern liberalism. And this from a "pre-med" student. God help us all.

 

P.S. Shout 'em down. That's exactly how the Brown Shirts did it.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

You know, this is one of

You know, this is one of those things that, the more you think about it, the funnier it gets....


"We should accept one another.
I don't think he should be allowed to speak."

You can't make this stuff up.

Pre Med?

TotalKaosDave

Pre Med student? HA!!! When Hillary socializes medicine and caps the salaries of doctors, he'll get EXACTLY what he deserves. Now that is poetic justice.

Freedom

Imagine freedom becoming controversial.

The libs have nothing to hold onto but the past, the radical Woodstock 1960's of long ago. Just as their desire to reform our Constitution as mandated by the course of time, they are forever handcuffed to the past.

Ward Churchill reached out to open minds.

How many colleges are not 'restocking' with the DNC political minds as they retire from government? How fair and balanced were the administrations for which they served? How socialistic?

Imagine anyone from congress departing the DNC, accepting a university position, and not expressing their view on global warming, or anti-Iraq, or pro-health care.

What if a student in the class had a brother fighting overseas or another's father was an oncologist?

JDW

Sen Clinton: Founder of Media Matters

 

Free is just another word...

"...You can use free speech until you hurt another person."

Make them stop. The irony is making my brain hurt.

Turn on, tune in, drop out

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Unless of course, their Republicans."

Wow, folks....

Just check out the "discussion" on that Amazon page. These people have no idea what "liberalism" really means, or how far their movement has strayed from it. And they're in denial about how similar to fascism their tactics have become. Several obvious "conservative" comments have been hidden by voting on "relevance," but I've cast some votes of my own. And sent one reply (so far).

Come on in, it's a "target-rich" environment!

;^)

Nick Griffin is not our

Nick Griffin is not our friend, he's a supremacist.We need to mentioned that before we fight for his right to speak.

CDN, if we do not fight for Nick Griffin's right to speak,

Then who will fight for ours?

if hes in favor of free

if hes in favor of free speech till it hurts someone then i guess im pro choice till it kills someone...

You can use free speech

You can use free speech until you hurt another person.

 BUT CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVEZ DOAN COUNT! THEYRE NOT REAL PEEPS!

Amazon Hacked MY ASS

It was done from the inside. If they were hacked,  Jonah Goldberg book's subtitle would have been corrected by now.

CDN

You might not like it but he has a right to say it.

Citizen Soldier

I went to see Gone Baby Gone this weekend, and absolutely loved it. Yeah, it's directed by Ben Affleck, with his brother in the starring role, but the movie was good in spite of it.

During the opening credits, a music video played. Seems 3 Doors Down made a VERY complimentary song about the National Guard, called Citizen Soldier. It's on the National Guard Website. Just thought I'd pass it along!

 

I really think that questioning others' masculinity is a game probably better left to people who haven't had more cock in and out of them than a Tyson Chicken regional distribution center. AceOfSpades 06162007

Emoroids don't think much of Horowitz's rights, either.

I hate to say it, but this was not a first for this crowd of "free speech" advocates at that once great institution of higher learning.

Stories like this make me fear for the future of our country.

Tim, a stunning contradiction. But the right isn`t the small-

government, conservative movement anymore, either.

Kinda scary that both parties are moving to greater reliance on government control, isn`t it?

Pres. Bush: "Our guiding principle is clear. We must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people."

Nice try, BS

Denial of free speech somehow shows the right "isn't a small-government conservative movement?"  

Nope, just a standard trollish attempt to mitigate ugly leftist behavior by straaaining for "eqivalence."