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In reply to the discussion: UC Davis shut down Yannopoulos, Shkreli event. Free Speech questions abound [View all]hunter
(38,983 posts)Read the comment section of any poorly moderated anyone-can-post news site. Anti-intellectualism, racism, and misogyny are still thriving in the U.S.A..
"Free Speech" doesn't mean I'm obligated to listen respectfully to vile gibberish. I'm certainly not obligated to provide a platform for it.
If anyone thinks MY words here are vile gibberish then they're welcome to tell me so or put me on "ignore."
The only time I ever demanded a respectful audience is teaching, and even then it's not about respecting me, it's about students respecting one another. Teachers enjoy a very limited freedom of speech anyways. A teacher who is not teaching the subject, or a teacher who is being a sexist racist asshole, or a teacher who is verbally abusing students, etc., will be fired. That teacher will lose their platform.
It amuses me to hear Breitbart bullies throwing temper tantrums like toddlers. "Waaaahhhhh! These people won't listen to me respectfully! Free Speech, Free Speech!"
The only people they're fooling is the morons who support them.
They are terrified that straight white males will lose the privilege of being listened to respectfully, no matter how vile the gibberish they are spewing.
They are very well aware of how they've disrespected everyone else and they don't want a similar disrespect heaped upon them.
Well too bad, they reap what they sow. They'll just have to grow a thicker skin and learn the language of righteous anger, just as all the groups they've oppressed have. If their anger is not righteous, and it's not, we have no ethical obligation to respect or tolerate their tantrums.