Free Speech vs. the Thought Police

....In the mid-19th century, the Ohio Valley was predominantly rural families. Today, it is a mix of rural poor and urban minorities, among the most economically disadvantaged, for whom attending college always has been a bridge out of poverty.

Throughout our history, going to college never meant going to a place of comfort. It meant being discomforted, forced to debate and examine your most cherished beliefs; it was intended to challenge students to see complexity instead of binary choices in life.

It was never meant to be a place to demand thought police in the guise of "social justice" or to create safe zones from hurt feelings.

Yet that is exactly what is happening at some of our universities, where leftist faculties are marching toward the destruction of free speech, a free society and freedom of inquiry.

“The unrest on our college campuses is a reflection of the political micro-aggression that is rampant on social media â€” the trend of aggressively attacking people with conflicting viewpoints. Both are dangerous and encourage our inclination to run for cover and live within our own echo chambers.

Last week, in the hours after the terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif., a coordinated effort by progressive lawmakers and their bullies exploited the ghastliness of the event by using social media to go after people and politicians who offered thoughts and prayers to the attack’s victims and survivors.”

And the Zer0 regime is not letting this crisis go to waste.

Some brain dead HS pot smoker or crack head scratched a swastika half inch in diameter into the paint of my car that my son took to school. The moron scratched around a dozen cars in the parking lot and there was a to do about it. Mine was the only swastika. I called the assistant principle in charge of such things and described the offending mark. Big mistake. He started to go on about HATE CRIMES. I told him on no uncertain terms that the damage to the cars paint is the ONLY THING I was upset about. “This is not 1984 or Brave New World”. I said “ We don’t have THOUGHT CRIMES”. This dooooshbag assistant principal wanted to call the police about the HATE Crime. I insisted I had no intention of charging whoever it was with a hate crime. We’re not Jewish and even if we were, I would not, no could not, abide the whole thought crime thing.

They never caught the kid though they thought they knew who it was and we rode around with a Dodge Intrepid for 6 months or so with a minuscule crooked cross on the windshield pillar. We had a dent fixed and asked the body guy to touch up the Nazi symbol. I liked it though. It reminded me of WW 2 P-51s with a swastika for every Messerschmidt shot down.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.