Free Speech Still Lives

Amidst the fun of showing that Walid Shoebat is likely a charlatan cooked up by someone on the right to provide some sort of legitimacy to their war against humanity, I forgot to express my disdain for the actions by the UW-Milwaukee administration for attaching an extra fee of $2,500 for security purposes. There have been other speakers who provoked heated reactions. This action seemed punitive and preemptive.

I may not like the Conservative Union's politics, but free speech is guaranteed to all. If the Muslim students have a right to speak (no thanks to hypocrite Charlie Sykes) and Shoebat has a right to speak, then the conservative students have a right to unencumbered speech as well.

Now if only those on the right would understand that criticism of their speech does not equal attempts to censor.

Mountains Out of Molehills

Regarding yawning, have you ever noticed that yawning seems to be contagious. Researchers have found that 40-60% of people who see a picture of someone yawning will yawn themselves. Even reading the word YAWN can make people yawn.

Apparently the same holds true for faux conservative outrage. Regarding Fred Dooley's (Real Debate Wisconsin blog author) taunt to Jay Bullock (folkbum's rambles and rants bog author) and his thought that a 1,000 word post is in the offing.

YAWN.

Be assured that 40-60% of conservative bloggers will follow suit.

Update: Mike Mathias and Nick Schweitzer chime in about the misplaced outrage.

And now Jay does add-on ... though with considerably less than 1,000 words.

Free for All

I find myself appalled at the U.S. Senate's condemnation of MoveOn's “General Betrayus” ad. I am equally appalled at the idea of a resolution by Democratic senators condemning Rush Limbaugh for his “phony soldiers” remarks. Both actions taken are distasteful.

It is completely inappropriate and chilling that any government body be leading such undemocratic actions. Of course, you'll find few if any conservative bloggers who agree.

Apparently, free speech is only free when they're the ones doing the talking.


UPDATE: Well, except for elliot and Dean.

A Little Accuracy Would Be Nice

Jessica McBride really should be sure of what she is posting before doing so. In this case McBride, as an update at the end of a rant about Columbia University inviting the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak, informs us that Hitler once did visit Columbia University. She gives a hat tip to that intellectual, Michelle Malkin (though no link) for leading her to that fount of accurate info, Little Green Footballs. It is there, she says, where the truth of the University's dalliance with the enemy is revealed.

Well, not exactly. Little Green Footballs reveals that it was the German ambassador to the United States, Hans Luther, who was invited to speak, not Hitler. In fact, the closest Hitler ever came to the United States was probably in some trench during WWI. Something the eternally clueless McBride could have discovered if she had checked. Something, you know, a lecturer in journalism at a major university might have done.

What gets me the most, though, is not this yet-another-example of McBride's sloppy writing, it's the fact that she really does not understand how a free society operates ... you know, that marketplace of ideas thing that she should be promoting as (I shudder to write this again) a lecturer of journalism at a major university. Let's look at the facts for a moment.

When the offer to speak was extended to Herr Luther in 1933, Germany was still ostensibly a democratic nation and the elected president, Paul Hindenburg had just appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor in January. It would have been considered a coup then (as today) to have the ambassador of a major country speak at any university. And make no mistake about it, Germany was considered a major player in the world and its recovery from the Great Depression was looked upon as a marvel. A recovery, by the way, that had almost nothing to do with Hitler and had almost everything to do with the democratically-elected government, sound fiscal policies and a hard-working citizenry.

Hitler's political success would come later at the expense of a cowed parliament that rubber-stamped everything he and his thugs proposed, and citizens who were exquisitely deluded by the propaganda machine of Joseph Goebbels in a manner not unlike how talk radio is used to misinform and promote GOP talking points and hysteria today.

So, it's easy for wing-nuts to condemn Columbia University, in hindsight, but the fact is in 1933 the excesses to come of the future dictatorship were as yet unknown. That there were some protesters who were prescient enough about Hitler still says nothing about the university's decision.

Inviting the president of Iran to speak is not a condoning of his nation's policies. It is an opportunity to hear what he has to say, and perhaps to ask tough questions, where he will learn first-hand what freedom of speech really means. It will be a remarkable opportunity for students. They should not be denied the chance to hear, unfettered of propaganda from either govenment, what a major actor on the world stage has to say.

In the end, it's just another stupid gotcha attempt by the right and Jessica McBride.