College Kids and Free Speech

     Let me introduce you to a guy named Nate Silver. Silver is a statistician who founded and was editor-in-chief of the website FiveThirtyEight.com (2008-2023). "538" provided analysis and predictions for a number of things including, but not limited to, sports, poker, media, and local and national elections. Since he left FiveThirtyEight, he now publishes a blog on Substack called the Silver Bullet that offers analysis on the same things and much more. While not always right (I mean, who is? Oh, you're always right, Boss! Dope...), Nate Silver is the latest guru that does the grunt work and then offers his take on these various topics. Earlier this year he published his analysis of the 2024 College Free Speech polling done by the College Pulse and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). I wasn't too surprised at the results, but I was shocked at how overwhelming it was.

    Back in the 1960s, which isn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things, college students led the charge for free expression. Those kids stepped up to the plate for disfavored perspectives, and downright obnoxious points of view. They didn't care. "Freedom of Speech" was next to godliness for those kids. Today, the grandchildren of those defenders of free speech would reject speakers with disfavored views on some of the biggest issues in our society. I'm gonna throw a lot of numbers and data at you, dear reader, but I hope you stick around, because it's important. Let's take a look at some of the big issues of today, and see where our adorable little munchkins stand.

    In the poll, only 29% of students said a speaker who viewed transgender people as having a mental disorder or who viewed "Black Lives Matter" as a hate group should be allowed to speak. Only 43% said an advocate for the abolition of abortion should be allowed on campus. That’s right; “Allowed on campus!”

    On the other hand, 65% of students would allow a speaker calling for the abolition of the Second Amendment so guns can be confiscated; 57% would allow a speaker who argued that religious liberty is used as an excuse to discriminate against gays and lesbians; and 72% would allow speakers with the view that structural racism maintains inequality by protecting White privilege.

    Silver writes that "the huge chasm in the views can mostly be attributed to the divide between students on the left, who were permissive of progressive speakers but hostile to conservative speakers; and conservative students, who were fairly consistent in their support for speakers regardless of political viewpoint.”

    But here's where my eyes started widening, and my growing annoyance at this generation of kids increased exponentially. According to the poll, only 37% of ALL students think it is never acceptable to shout down a speaker; only 55% think it is never acceptable to block other students from attending a speech; and 27% of students believe that violence can rarely, sometimes, or always be an acceptable answer to stop a campus speech. Are you kidding me? You mean to tell me that there are HUGE percentages of students who think it's okay to shout down, use violence, and/or block other students from attending a speech of their choosing? I know a lot of people want to blame the parents, and while I think that is grossly misguided and teaches young adults they are not responsible for their own actions, I understand that parents are an easy target. But again, these are young adults here...sort of. They need to be held accountable for their frighteningly anti-democratic, if not quasi-fascist views. 

    Now, Silver rightly notes in his commentary that there is plenty of blame to go around with both conservatives and progressives calling for restrictions on certain types of speech or certain types of speakers. And may I digress for a minute to add that we rarely see or hear the word "liberal" in a political context anymore. I mean, it was pretty much consigned to the political dustbin of history by people of the Left during the Carter administration, which is why Reagan won 3 terms (and trust me, Bush the Elder was elected as a Reagan third term). It's also why Clinton ran as a conservative Democrat, as he and others of his ilk wanted no part of the label “liberal”. But we'll get back to that subject down the road. Back to the brats.

    The bottom line, at least for me, is that the threat to a culture of free expression is rising. I've talked to people who think this is just a passing fad, like the Pet Rock (yes, I’m old), that doesn't threaten our First Amendment liberties. But I sincerely believe it is only a matter of time before a culture of silence and cancellation works its way into our laws and jurisprudence. Now, I could be wrong…I often am. But it's the way things work. As George Orwell (he of the Canonical novels 1984 and Animal Farm) once wrote, "The point is that the relative freedom which we enjoy depends on public opinion. The law is no protection. Governments make laws, but whether they are carried out, and how the police behave, depends on the general temper in the country. If large numbers of people are interested in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it; if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them." [Italics mine.]

    This poll, and others like it, highlight an ongoing challenge to a culture of free expression in this country as well as ongoing concerns about cancel culture. For me, cancel culture is part of a larger problem; Americans are using cheap but powerful tactics to de-platform those they disagree with rather than engage them in difficult conversations/debates. I’ll say it for the millionth time, there is nothing more important than freedom of expression. And I'm not talking about the right to tell someone to "kiss my ass", but to be able to intelligently discuss the issues of the day, whether it be race, religion, Israel vs. Hamas, or something even as mundane as tax policy, without some moron calling in the 'politically correct" police because you hurt their feelings. To be fair, ripping these kids is too easy. It's beneath me. Between wanting to hide in a corner because someone like me contradicts their personal "10 Political Commandments" or their boss in the first job they ever have is telling them they actually have to do what they're told or they're fired and they run to the bathroom crying, these kids are low-hanging fruit on the verbal abuse tree. 

    But because of these dopes, support for free expression is fading. And trust me, there are plenty of so-called adults who are just as guilty, but the kids are our future, right? Maybe? We hope? The gods, help us. Even among those who have historically needed and utilized free expression the most are turning away from it; turning from that very idea which is the bedrock of the freedoms they rightfully protested for. We've got a lot of contentious issues on the table right now, not to mention a presidential election between a couple of less than stellar candidates. I mean, we're not talking about Adams vs. Jefferson with these two nitwits, and I haven't heard a lot of talk so far about "freedom of expression." Censorship and cancellation must be resisted. We need to rebuild a culture of free expression if we are to continue to enjoy the MANY benefits that it provides. Here endeth the lesson. 

write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com