JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

I want to tell a little story about a wonderful and I do mean wonderful little Italian lady I know. She is in her eighties and still speaks Italian fluently. She was a child in a city flattened by the allies in Italy. She married a G.I. and moved to the states. I was at her house the other day and her daughter had the news on and they were discussing the Berkeley college and it's shutdown of Ann Coulter on the news. Of course they included the riots before on campus. The little lady took my hand and said Jimmy this very bad, what the people are doing. These rioters, not letting others speak out, just like Italy before Mussolini. She said this is exactly how fascism starts.
Now people whether you are on the right or left this is where we used too come together. Remember the days when Americans said I can't stand what you say but I'll defend your right to the death too say it? Are those days gone?

EconomistDon

Those days are gone. The tender snowflakes demand freedom of speech, as long as it relates to things they support. Anything else must be silenced to avoid offending their tender ears. Those who support the snowflakes claim that Ann Coulter is free to speak anywhere else where she pays for the speaking hall. But they are overlooking a very important aspect of education. College students (Berkley students) should not be indoctrinated to one political philosophy; they should not be trained to be young Democrats. They should be taught to look at all sides of the issues, to listen and consider both points of view, and decide for themselves. What's happening at Berkley is wrong. And then there is the History Professor at Fresno University who is harping on social media for someone to murder Donald Trump. Fresno University does not support the Professor, but they aren't firing him either. The guy should be on the street or maybe in jail. How did our education system become so one-sided liberal? I know that Obama did all he could to load the federal end of education with liberals. These people are (mis)shaping the minds of our youth.

JW

Those days are gone and the new fascists can't even recognize themselves.

PeterS

So she is saying that by stopping the Mussolini's and Hitler's from spewing their hate speech that is how fascism starts? And "these rioters" aren't stopping everyone from speaking--just the most vile of the fascists presented by the right. And don't worry Jimmy, there are plenty of outlets for Coulter so spew her garbage and sadly, plenty of people who can't wait for her to do so. If you little ole Italian lady wants to worry about something--that would be something worth worry about because that's exactly how RW fascism gets started...

PeterS

If you want to see one take a look in the mirror and smile...

wolffy

What does that s stand for Pete? Stupid!

bylm1-Bernie

As usual, Pete, you have missed the entire message. Do you know what a fascist is? Do you really know what free speech is? Maybe you should re-read the post.

buffalo Loc: Texas

UC Berkeley's suppression of free speech, for whatever reason, is against the law. Courts have ruled in Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia against university policies that banned "acts of intolerance" and even policies that banned speech that had the "purpose" of creating a "hostile" environment. The Supreme Court has also categorically rejected the notion that the state may prohibit so-called “hate speech.”

The delicate little snowflakes at UC Berkeley and other universities are not advocating freedom and liberty but protection--a "safe space" if you will, from anything deemed by them as offensive, racist, hateful, even Halloween costumes, etc. As abhorrent as it may seem to some, a university should be the last place that limits and polices freedom of speech and expression. It is a dangerous and slippery slope that doesn't prepare the delicate little snowflakes for life outside academia. There will not be someone out there with the power to police "speech" that one might deem offensive or insensitive.

Whether, is a Halloween costume, a name for a building on campus, or a speaker with a different ideology, suppressing freedom of expression and speech on a university campus because it might offend some delicate little snowflakes or differ from their moonbatty ideology is a dangerous and slippery slope indeed.

It is also ironic that this happened at UC Berkeley, because in 1964 UC Berkeley was the birth place of the "Free Speech Movement" where students insisted that they would not be silenced on such controversial issues of the day such as Civil Rights and the Vietnam War.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

He missed it on purpose. Pete is just a dumbass or troll. More than likely a dumbass troll.

buffalo Loc: Texas

Moonbats need to realize that you can’t make ideas go away by suppressing or making them illegal. And you certainly can’t make them go away by attacking those who express them. All you can do is push them underground, where they grow more radicalized in the darkness. If another's ideas are deemed hateful, expose them to the light. Debate them. Show them and their supporters why they are wrong. If YOU can’t “win” the argument…if YOU can’t persuade people to choose your viewpoints over theirs…then maybe – just maybe – you’re the one who is wrong.

But of course, that’s exactly what delicate little moonbatty snowflakes are afraid of.

Docadhoc Loc: Elsewhere

You completely missed the message.

The problem with being a liberal is that you see only those words that you want to see. Nothing else there registers. This is probably.the reason you are so obtuse.

Nickolai

I'm afraid they are the crazies on the left and right are on the rise. The right sends professional agitators such as Anne Coulter who have cultivated hatred for profit over the years to predominately progressive universities such as UC Berkeley to agitate and stir up passions and blood pressure on the left. For more than a week while the controversy raged on Coulter and her conservative supporters took to the media to accuse the liberal university of allowing leftist agitators to prevent people with opposing views from speaking on campus. This was the second time in recent months that violence or the threat of violence had prevented a conservative speaker from appearing on campus. The provocateur Milo Yainopolous had his speech canceled when anarchist and Anti fascists groups slipped into a peaceful protest and wreaked havoc on the campus causing $100,000 in damage. Members of the so called black block have used the same tactics over and over again in Oakland Berkeley and San Francisco. Occupy Oakland and San Francisco ended when these groups swept in out of nowhere smashed store fronts of down town business and disappeared as fast as they had appeared. In the battle for Berkeley the far left and the far protesters right beat and kicked each other bloody while downtown Berkeley riot police rarely intervened except to arrest a person with a deadly weapon. Sadly if Coulter had been allowed to speak she could have been asked tough questions about her odious anti-immigrant views and other offensive statements intended to offend outrage wile she laughs all the way to the bank. Instead she was given a weeks worth of saturation coverage to promote her right victim narrative

Larry the Legend Loc: Not hiding in Milton

He thinks a fascist is anyone who disagrees with his socialism. Free speech is someone telling him everything he agrees with and him going out and regurgitating it. He has no idea where fascism originated or what it means to be fascist. If you question him you'll get nothing but invectives and ad-hominem attacks. He didn't 'miss' the message. He never even tried to catch it.

Nickolai

Fascism originated in Italy by Benito Mussolini who bears a scary resemblance to Our President in his stance, his gestures and persona. The definition of Fascism is super nationalism and the merger of big government ,big business, and big religion.

Docadhoc Loc: Elsewhere

It's called a double standard. Liberals have complete free speech but not conservatives. I smell a huge settlement coming from UCB.

Breathing all that foul air where you live has affected your mind.