[MD] Free Speech

[pholden at davtv.com]

Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu>:

> [Platt]
> Has your college ever banned a group from campus?
> 
> [Arlo]
> If they would, I'd protest it. Are you trying to do a "guilt by association"
> maneuver here?

Nice dodge. I didn't ask "would they?" I asked "have they." Anything in your
college rulebook about "approved" organizations on campus?

> [Platt]
> At what college were armed guards necessary for King?
> 
> [Arlo]
> It appears to only be college campuses that you direct your ire? Why? Isn't it
> just as appaling that King Jr. had to have armed guards to speak in public, but
> off campus, that Coulter needed them on-campus?

Another dodge. Academe boasts of its tolerance. King would be welcomed with open
arms on campuses. But, Coulter, Horowitz and other conservatives require armed
guards to fend off physical attacks. Why?  

> [Arlo had asked]
> Okay, I'll bite. Do you believe there should be any restrictions on who and how
> groups rally, either on or off campus? Would you support a neo-nazi, or
> communist, rally in your town square? (I mean support as in allowing it to
> legally occur). Should the American Marxist Organization hold a rally in
> downtown Plattsville, would you protest? Heckle? What? And let me be more
> specific, if you were the University President of Holden University, would
> there be _any_ group you would ban from campus? Finally, when the AMO holds a
> rally and is heckled by right-wing ideologues unable to see that they are
> supporting a system that is exploiting them, do you vocally condemn this? Or is
> it only when right-wing groups (whether the KKK or Miss Coulter) get heckled
> that it bothers you?
> 
> [Platt]
> Nice try to change the subject. Does your college have a speech code? Do you
> know colleges that do? Do you approve?
> 
> [Arlo]
> Who's changing the subject? I told you what my position is. Now I'm asking you
> what yours is. Why the evasion? I've agreed that there are immoral restrictions
> on free speech, both on campus and off, in this country. I've told you I would
> support BOTH a fundamentalist Christian and a fundamentalist Muslim group in
> speaking, BOTH Coulter and Chomsky in speaking. I take free speech quite
> seriously, I find it insulting that some only play the "free speech" card when
> its "their speech", but blindly turn away when it is not (or worse, turn around
> and invent "reasons" only their preferred groups should have free speech). As I
> said, letting these buffoons speak does more to discredit their ideas, and
> censorship brings often an undeserved aura of legitimate opposition.

Yet another dodge. Does your college have a speech code? If so, what have you
done about it since you "take free speech quite seriously?" Wrote a letter to
the school paper? Circulated a petition? Anything?
 
> Now, you gonna answer those questions above, or is this gonna be another dodge
> situation?

Answers are No, yes, no, yes, no.   


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