The Left and Free Speech (A Right Opinion)
October 2, 2017
The following arguments and viewpoints in this article are expressed in the form of opinion. In no way, shape, or form does this article reflect the overall opinion of the Express, instead it is delivered as an opportunity to defend a stance given that it can facilitate a conversation. If any argument, statement, or stance is found to be unclear or disagreeable to you, the reader, you are encouraged to comment or research at your leisure in order to reach a better understanding of the stances of this column.
Currently, the United States of America is in the midst of an immense period of political polarization. Lines are drawn and everyone finds themselves dedicated to a side on either the right or left of the political spectrum. One of the biggest polarized issues that can be seen today is the modern day attack on the principle of free speech. The leaders of this assault happen to be none other than the liberal left.
Modern day liberalism is armed with the repressive qualities of political correctness, fascist thuggery, and even a systematic devotion to suppress freedom of speech.
Political correctness is the belief that language that may offend political sensibilities like race or religion should be eliminated from debate and discussion. Political correctness is maintained as an enemy to basically everything about the first amendment. It is an idea instated and held up purely by the will of the left as a way to subdue speech that can hurt feelings. Altogether PC culture can inhibit honest and necessary truth in everyday political discussion and holds feelings at too high of a manner.
In this political period we have seen more protests than we can count and it’s obvious to say that these protests are most commonly led by the liberal left. A large number of those held this year have had a specific target on conservative rallies and political lectures or lessons.
The largest example of protest controversy has centered around UC Berkeley. Back in February of this year, alt-right voice and large opponent to political correctness Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to speak on campus. Of course a large conservative audience showed up to the lecture, they were then equally met with a large group of counter-protesters. This is where the emergence of a new political antagonist–Antifa–occurred. Antifa currently is a radical left wing black bloc protest group under the banner of the “anti-fascist” movement, it’s an organization with a history that goes back several decades under this title.
Antifa operates with the intention that they are stopping fascism, however they go against themselves in this nature. Ben Shapiro, a conservative spokesman, recently spoke at Berkeley on September 14th, an event that also drew a large amount of counter protesters and hate from radical left supporters. He gave a lecture that directly criticized the radical left wing’s tactics of thuggery against conservative free speech. In his speech Shapiro said,
“Fascism is the phenomenon whereby people believe that they have the capacity to ram their beliefs down your throat at the point of a gun…that’s what fascism truly is, fascism is even more of a tactic than it is an ideology.”
According to Shapiro, Antifa is a fascist group, he even goes as far to point out that Antifa and the protests have gone completely untouched and ignored by the control of the federal government, meaning there is no “Trump fascist regime” that is focusing on shutting down political opposition. However, if you look back at it, Antifa is actively shutting down conservative events and rallies on the basis that they don’t align with their beliefs–that’s fascism.
In fact, the hostile left wing has been involved in starting violence or disturbance in all seven protest clashes at Berkeley since Antifa first showed up in February. Just this weekend, Yiannopoulos had organized a four day event called “Free Speech Week,” which would host several conservative speakers like Anne Coulter and Steve Bannon in celebration of free speech. As expected, a lot went wrong and due to the large amount of pressure put on the university for safety concerns and general disapproval from the liberal student body, it was cancelled.
It’s absolutely disappointing to see the systematic and constant oppression against not only conservative belief but really the ability to express beliefs freely at all. Our country is experiencing a large increase of devotion to this toxic liberalism that is throwing out the principles of liberty our country was founded upon.
The largest part of this issue is the left’s persistence to follow their agenda of supposed tolerance, liberals hold their precious agenda of tolerance so valuably that it impedes the rights of those who follow certain religions and ideologies. Their attachment to their PC culture completely centers around censoring the speech of those that do not share their viewpoints.
The progressive left wing of America is a complex offender of our country’s ideals, they have undercut the ability of free expression and have harnessed a system of tactics to inhibit free thought and discussion in our political sphere. This has been executed to an abominable degree in this day and age and it needs to be stopped before the left turns our country over to complete censorship at the hands of totalitarianism.
Alyssa Mitchell • Oct 10, 2017 at 6:01 PM
This is probably one of the best articles I have ever read on The Express. After attending a Ben Shapiro event at my university, the liberal left hypocrisy is so evident. The same people that advocate for “Love Trumps Hate” and being the “tolerant left” are the same people that cussed at me and said awful things to my fellow Republicans. There is undoubtedly a war against conservatives, and articles like this truly bring to light the hypocrisy and hatred of the left. Keep up the amazing work, Kaden.
Cameron Newman • Oct 8, 2017 at 9:59 PM
“…if you look back at it, Antifa is actively shutting down conservative events and rallies on the basis that they don’t align with their beliefs–that’s fascism.” amen to that! Why does no one realize this? This needs to be brought up over and over again. The hypocrisy of the radical left is the epitome of everything wrong with this great nation.