Thursday, January 17, 2019

A Tiny Win For Free Speech

When I was growing up, I was taught that free speech was a big deal.  It's what separated our American society from other, more tyrannical, societies.

Today, rather than lose it, too many Americans are willing to give that right away--especially on university campuses.  Not so at George Mason University:
George Mason University eliminated its speech codes nearly four years ago, but didn’t adopt a formal statement defending freedom of expression until late last year.

What is more notable: The public university has flipped the script on bias reporting.

On its new “Free Speech at Mason” page, the northern Virginia school features a “Submit a Report” button at the top left. Here’s what it says: “If you believe your right to free speech has been infringed at Mason, you may submit an incident report by clicking on the button below.”
It would be nice if other schools would follow suit.
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3 comments:

  1. LeftCoastRef8:36 PM

    Speaking of free speech, how about this story and the "implied racism". The comments from the coaches saying "... You have free speech, but..." and the idea that it is "divisive" is sad. If it had been a "Bernie 2020" or "#MeToo" flag, would there have been any upheaval?

    http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-roosevelt-high-school-basketball-coach-questions-fans-displaying-pro-trump-flag-at-game-in-jordan/504437562/

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  2. Darren12:28 PM

    Been planning to do a post on that one.

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  3. Darren4:18 PM

    Guess I've waited too long to do a post. Here's some more info:

    While Walker interpreted the pro-Trump flag as having an underlying racial meaning, one of the parents of the students said it was simply part of a "USA blackout" theme night.

    "Bridget Kahn commented on the Roosevelt coach’s Facebook posting wrote that the flag belonged to her and was used by students as part of a long-planned USA blackout theme night," the Tribune reports. "Kahn told the Star Tribune later that her son and others took two of the flags with them to the game and 'left with them wrapped around them like capes.'"

    "I didn’t see anything wrong with that," she added, saying the students were simply wearing patriotic colors and expressing support for the president. "They don’t have a racist bone in their body," she stressed.
    https://www.dailywire.com/news/42361/students-bring-trump-2020-banner-hs-basketball-james-barrett?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=051717-news&utm_campaign=dwtwitter

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