Thursday, February 02, 2017

The Right Also Threatens Free Speech On Campus

   Donald P. Moynihan seems to be slanted left on this issue, dragging guns into the discussion...and I'm not convinced that the right is a bigger threat...but the most important point is: the right is also a threat.
   Of course state legislatures have power. But things like the professor watch list are a joke. I've seen discussion boards and comments sections in which liberal professors are trying to figure out how to get on the list--partially to flood the zone, but partially as a badge of honor. They do not fear that thing in any way, shape, or form, though they do love the idea of being targeted by the right.
   The threat from the left is a real threat on universities because that shit is in the bones of the place. The left gets presumption at universities. Leftism is the default state, and it's the direction in which things naturally flow. Opposing the right is almost automatic at universities, as is acquiescing to the left. Any threat from right-wing legislators will at least be clear, open, and above-board, however otherwise threatening. And universities will instantly mobilize to resist the threat. Threats from the left are sometimes open--but usually excused when they are (imagine the reaction if the Berkeley anti-Milo riot had been the right opposing a leftist speaker). But there's also the covert threat from the left--the daily advocacy of anti-rationalist and illiberal leftist theories that are baked into popular positions in the humanities and social sciences.
   Anyway, none of that means that there's no threat from the right, of course.

   Man, I sure hope I'm wrong about all this. But I don't think I am.

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