General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Professor Bans Student for Rape Views [View all]BainsBane
(53,180 posts)that does not promote your interests. To support only speech you think "unbiased," is not in fact support for free speech at all.
My point is this. Free speech is not absolute, and you do not come close to an absolutist on the subject given your clear opposition to research on gun violence and your support of other efforts by the gun lobby to infringe on the First Amendment. When it comes to the basic rights of others: women and children not to be subject to pro-rape arguments or statements about their supposed inferiority, you are all for it since it doesn't effect YOU.
My suggestion is that you be aware of the ways your experiences and political views influence your position toward speech. There are no absolute free speech rights. To insist others be subject to bigoted attacks while you refuse to consider permitting academic research that could save lives for fear that it might infringe on gun accumulation shows the extent to which your conception of free speech is shaped by your own particular interests. In your case, you support government restriction of speech that might challenge gun interests, which I submit is a violation of the First Amendment. A teacher telling a student he is not allowed to participated in part of a class does not violate the First Amendment. (Remember that the teacher too has First Amendment rights). You have no problem saying that the student and others like him should be able to denigrate rape victims all they like because it doesn't effect you. Yet when human lives are at stake, you are more than happy to restrict speech if you think it has the potential your ability to accumulate weapons.
Be aware of your own biases, your own subject position, and how that influences your position toward different kinds of speech rather than pretending you are for free speech when others aren't.