After Student Outcry, Turning Point USA Cancels UW Event Featuring Anti-Trans Speaker
https://www.them.us/story/uw-students-protest-turning-point-usa-after-trans-student-homicide
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There’s always a “bUT FrEe spEEcH” outcry about things like this, and…look, the aforementioned student outcry •is• free speech. Not only that, the •event cancellation• is free speech.
And not only that!! This part even well-meaning, democracy-minded people totally botch: this initial scheduling, the backlash, the argument over whose voice gets amplified and in what space, the ultimate cancellation? All that is the •bedrock• of free speech.
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A link to a previous thread on this topic (start at the top if you want the whole train of thought, but here’s the heart of the argument):
https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/115375503166473754
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The link in the previous post starts from the question of shutting down public events by hateful groups. Here’s another thread orbiting the same core thought, this one about content moderation and institutional authority:
https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/110481879199090514
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Institutions of higher education (like the one I work for!) have an important cultural function: they act not just as venues for exchange of ideas, but as •exemplars• of •how• to exchange ideas — and as •arbiters• of which ideas are worth exchanging. Colleges and universities are an R&D department for the Overton Window.
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Institutions of higher education (like the one I work for!) have an important cultural function: they act not just as venues for exchange of ideas, but as •exemplars• of •how• to exchange ideas — and as •arbiters• of which ideas are worth exchanging. Colleges and universities are an R&D department for the Overton Window.
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