Discussion for article #240483
âI have no idea what that means, and I suspect he (Carson) doesnât either,â Obama responded.
Very good, Mr. President!
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I disagree. Student protests ARE their way of âlisteningâ to conservative speakers. They have likely heard of the vitriol, lies, distortions and fabrications of these speakers before some wooden-headed admin. types though it wise to have them spew.
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Donât they have the right to protest them if they do not agree with them? Hearing somebody out is fine but most of these sorts of speakers that are considered conservative are not going to suddenly say something that everybody will agree with. It is just the way it is. I think the sentiment of hearing the other side out is a good idea in principle but not really in reality where nobody changes their minds.
I think part of listening to other folks is that youâre hope they might learn from your example, and some cracks might start forming in their blinders that let in some light. That and there are a lot of ways to skin a dead catâŚso my wife the cat hater tells meâŚha ha ha.
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Thus we have a self-fulfilling prophecy. If itâs already decided that no one ever changes his mind, then why even bother having a free exchange of ideas, let alone spaces for those exchangesâwhich is what (good) colleges are supposed to be.
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By and large, I agree with our President here. What comes to mind is Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking at Liberty University the other day. Those studentsâthough mandated to attendâwere very respectful of Sanders and did hear him out. But Bernie Sanders actually has something to say. He is proposing solid ideas and solutions to real problems. He is there to help move discussions along, not be vitriolic like Ann Coulter almost always isâon purpose. I donât really know exactly where the lines should be drawn. Comparing Sen. Sanders as a speaker to Ann Coulter, well thereâd be no question â but thatâs my personal belief. If Coulter had a history of actually discussing issues in a manner that isnât deliberately inflammatory or hate-filled, I wouldnât mind hearing her out â but every time Iâve ever watched her in ANY situation over the many years sheâs been on display, sheâs so over-the-top inflammatory and deliberately hateful that I can totally understandâand personally agree withâstudents protesting her being a speaker. Pretty much the same goes for the likes of Sarah Palin. I would, though, sit and listen to Mitch McConnell or John Boehner â though they do have a tendency to be very partisan when making statements about those with whom they disagree, at least they arenât there just to be partisan hate-clownsâŚ
It can be a tough call sometimes. Some are pretty easy to callâagain, Coulter or Palin, they add nothing of substance to any conversation. Generally, I do agree with President Obama but it should always be a right for students to protest in civilized manner.
Edit: Iâd like to clarify a point several others have madeâand thank you @JohnBâI donât believe President Obama is proposing not allowing students to protest the selection of a speaker. I believe what heâs saying is that in most cases, studentsâ protests shouldnât have a veto power over the selection. Thanks.
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This is an example of Communism at work. The president (an avowed Marxist-Muslim) wants patriots to speak up, so that when he declares Sharia Law the day before heâs supposed to leave office, heâll know who his enemies are. Remember what happened to Kim Davis: It will soon happen to us all!
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Instead of protesting and preventing conservative speakers from coming, students (and the rest of us) would be much better served if they insisted that unrestricted question and answer sessions be mandatory for anyone who wanted to speak at the college. Then, if the speaker chooses not to speak, it isnât because he wasnât welcome, itâs because he was afraid to face the questions that would be asked.
These speakers should be grilled by a hostile audience, and they should be forced to defend their statements. If the press isnât going to do it, Iâm ready to put my faith in college students.
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?? You want us to get divorced three times?!!
Hey. Iâm not going to hell because Kim Davis is confused over what Jesus said about Love.
Yep, thatâs todayâs free speech, from the liberal perspective. Free speech for all, as long as what they say is âgoodâ, is ârightâ, is âthe same thing that I believeâ. Itâs the University as Echo Chamber. And thatâs a big fat crock of crap.
There are a lot of opinions out there, and liberal thoughts are one of many.
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This is very good, and is the appropriate thing. Allow the speech to be heard, and then confront the speaker. What is your opinion of question screening? Should the questions be open, or should they be screened for appropriate language (no statements that âMr. Scalia, you are a racist mofoâ).?
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Typical Obama. Starts out with a strong slap at Carson, then waffles his way oh-so-reasonably into reinforcing the rightwing myth that âthe campusesâ are bastions of leftist intolerance. As if that was the big problem with the fading prospects of higher education in the U.S.
Plus conservative speeches tend mostly to be brain-numbing: the listenerâs ears & attention are hammered at with pro-inequality, racist, misogynist, xenophobic, exploitive, pro-boneheadcapitalist, religiotic, evolution-climatechange-sicence denying formulaic claptrap that, on top of all proven Bizarro World wrongo wingnuttery, is BORING.
Heâs the best president weâve had since FDR, but jeeze can he be professorially obtuse sometimes.
Good, but not enough misplaced capital letters and exclamation points.
heâs right and it is quite hypocritical to ban conservative speakers. The best way to protest is with your feet. Surely there are some speakers beyond the pale. For instance, not much could possibly be gained by having a representative from NAMBLA speak at a college in favor of man-on-boy sexual relationships. Furthermore, I donât see the point in having someone like Ann Coulter speak at a college - she has proven that sheâs just a bomb-thrower for money, and her viewpoints are already well-known by now. I donât see how someone like her adds anything to an intellectual debate.
But beyond a few extreme examples like this, it should be anything goes. A representative of the communist party? Sure, why not? In fact I would love it if a representative of one of the European communist parties went on a speaking tour in the US. It is indeed a curious thing to me how communist parties persist in western Europe - some of its members get elected to various governing bodies too - even after the fall of Soviet communism and the Berlin Wall. Likewise, a college interested in robust debate and exchange of ideas should be willing to have white supremacists speak, or representatives of the militia movement, or someone who advocates for the gold standard and abolition of the Fed.
Having such people speak at colleges is not an endorsement; itâs an opportunity to learn about how others view the world. I wish campus liberals would live up to their highly-prized values because to this day this is one area where they fall down, and conservatives have a very good point about this. Whether they know it or not, Liberty University threw down the gauntlet with having Bernie Sanders speak there. He was treated respectfully even if both the administration and its student body generally disagree with his views, and quite strongly. Itâs now the turn of other colleges and universities to prove they are as tolerant of diverse viewpoints as LU is.
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I donât know exactly how youâd police itâhave good âmoderators,â I guessâbut Iâd say a general guideline might be the student questions and/or statements should be pretty much in-line with the tone of the speech by the speaker. If speaker ended up being inflammatoryâlike Scalia is want to doâthen the line of questions are allowed to be on the same level. If speaker wonât have any of it, then they arenât likely to hold their own with regards to logic backing up their contentions.
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If I were in charge, any question screening would be done by the university and certainly not the guest speaker. And the questions would not be asked by a moderator, but directly by the student, with an opportunity for followup questions if desired.
I donât think that anyone is served by language that descends to statements like youâve described, but with the amount of inflammatory rhetoric some of these folks seem to spout, they certainly should be expected to handle it if someone returns the favor.
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Well, since conservatives never change their (divisive, hateful, discriminatory) tune, and NEVER let anyone else get a word in edgewise (by design), whatâs the point?
Weâve heard it all before, and itâs still the same set of crappy lies itâs always been.
All that said, I agree with the President. But I also think that any speaker on a college campus should be required to answer questions from students.
If that were required, conservatives, like cockroaches, would scatter.
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YeahâŚI am already missing him on the campaign trail.
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