DePaul University blocks Ben Shapiro from speaking to avoid conflict amongst students

[RickJamesLich]

I am merely saying people who fear this is somehow going to keep people from having a broad perspective are worried over nothing. That is largely a function of the individual's desire to cultivate such a perspective, not the university they attend. Internet access is in and of itself probably the single biggest undermining of local environments to shape world views in history, provided people are motivated to use it to that end.

I guess we will disagree to the level of effect this has, but I think you should at least be able to agree that college is the main place where opposing viewpoints are meant to be discussed. No other place is more appropriate. Every University has a code of integrity, or at least should. De Paul is violating that right now, even if you think it's "not a big deal".

That being said, I think you can agree that if someone watches Fox news on a regular basis, it will likely shape their views in a certain direction, correct? How is a University any different? Many students are only informed of issues that are presented in front of their faces, if we are going to prevent certain view points from being allowed, it seems pretty clear the same type of effect would happen here as well.

[Adamas102]

This is the so called democracy that lefties like.

Get over yourself, kid. Both sides have plenty of people who want nothing more than to be loud and obnoxious. If you don't believe that there are people on the right who love the idea of stifling dissenting opinion then you're delusional.

[PC2]

It doesn't, and he's not implying that. He's saying that was the reason the police arrested him. And it was. Because they were following a local law.

Is it your life goal to be a contrarian dumbass, even when the reality is plain to see?

Law implies it is referentially valid, it has been null for its entire existence since flag burning is free speech.

[Dextroden]

Get over yourself, kid. Both sides have plenty of people who want nothing more than to be loud and obnoxious. If you don't believe that there are people on the right who love the idea of stifling dissenting opinion then you're delusional.

Oh, there are. It doesn't stop universities from being full of shit for blocking opposing views, themselves.

[Garnier Fructis]

Law implies it is referentially valid, it has been null for its entire existence since flag burning is free speech.

I take that as a yes to my question.

[Coombs]

The point isn't about college campuses and who gets to speak there. The point is that you can find people who threaten violence or otherwise lose their shit when people say things they don't like on both sides of the spectrum precisely because that sort of intolerance is about one's personal outlook and not their political views. It is ridiculous and disingenuous to try to spin the situation to promote a right wing persecution complex.

Jim Lahey would think that both wings are broken on this flying shitdactyl.

[PC2]

I take that as a yes to my question.

You could be arrested for saying Voldemort out loud, that doesn't mean it is an accurate representation of what is valid in the system.

[Adamas102]

Oh, there are. It doesn't stop universities from being full of shit for blocking opposing views, themselves.

The university has to address the possibility of a small group of entitled fucktards making trouble. Whether they made the right decision in simply shutting down the event is up for debate, but jumping straight to it being some sort of liberal conspiracy ignores the legit safety concerns that an institution like that has to deal with.

[Coombs]

I think you're overestimating how much time it takes. It takes like 30 seconds to read a weekly newsletter. If I see someone who I just can't stand at all, it would take me approximately another minute to leave a message on the machine of whoever is responsible for approving such events to complain about it.

I'm talking as if he was allowed to talk there, the time out of someone's life it would take to actually attend the event, listen to it while getting heated, then storm the stage. Calling and complaining takes no time, but the personality of such a person is concerning.

[RickJamesLich]

I actually disagree. College is important for a lot of reasons, but it should not be the main place for opposing viewpoints. That is a failure of virtually all non-college environments to cultivate a desirable level of ideological diversity.

If someone only watches Fox News on a regular basis, it may shape their views, but that's a decision they made about what to expose themselves to. That's my point. It's less about whether the university allows certain speakers or not and more about whether or not the individual is motivated to challenge their existing perspective. It's not hard to flip the channel to MSNBC or whatever.

College is a place where idea's and theories are created, examined, debated, etc. An educational environment is exactly where people should be able to hear opposing viewpoints so they can be discussed and evaluated. Ideological diversity outside of college is a ffffaaaarrrr away at this point, but it would be nice if it was around, I'm sure you would agree. You know what will hinder that from happening? Preventing ideological diversity at Universities.

As for the person already determining "what they want to hear" there is no doubt that happens, but at the same time it's silly to ignore that people get influenced by the opinions of others as well, at times even the opinions of those that may disagree with them. An immeasurable amount of people change their viewpoints over time, as they get older, this type of thing is self evident, so your idea that "it's not a big deal that Shapiro doesn't speak as it won't change anyone's pre-established beliefs" is definitely not true. If that was the case, University's would never have guest speakers lol.

Not to mention people that disagree with Shapiro often still attend his events. Check out one of his videos if you don't believe me lol. I know you hate the guy but you may actually find some of the videos to be quite entertaining.

[Coombs]

The university has to address the possibility of a small group of entitled fucktards making trouble. Whether they made the right decision in simply shutting down the event is up for debate, but jumping straight to it being some sort of liberal conspiracy ignores the legit safety concerns that an institution like that has to deal with.

I just can't imagine gangly college boys and overweight college feminists would be that much of a security risk LOL.

[Coombs]

College is a place where idea's and theories are created, examined, debated, etc. An educational environment is exactly where people should be able to hear opposing viewpoints so they can be discussed and evaluated. Ideological diversity outside of college is a ffffaaaarrrr away at this point, but it would be nice if it was around, I'm sure you would agree. You know what will hinder that from happening? Preventing ideological diversity at Universities.

As for the person already determining "what they want to hear" there is no doubt that happens, but at the same time it's silly to ignore that people get influenced by the opinions of others as well, at times even the opinions of those that may disagree with them. An immeasurable amount of people change their viewpoints over time, as they get older, this type of thing is self evident, so your idea that "it's not a big deal that Shapiro doesn't speak as it won't change anyone's pre-established beliefs" is definitely not true. If that was the case, University's would never have guest speakers lol.

Not to mention people that disagree with Shapiro often still attend his events. Check out one of his videos if you don't believe me lol. I know you hate the guy but you may actually find some of the videos to be quite entertaining.

You have a romantic view of college that simply doesn't exist.

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I don't think they necessarily have to listen to him to get upset by him being there.

Even worse.

It's like living next to a homosexual couple and getting infuriated on a Saturday night. You hear nothing outside of your window but a gentle breeze, but your eyes just cannot close. Laying awake you just know that gay sex is happening next fucking door. You know it!

[Dextroden]

The university has to address the possibility of a small group of entitled fucktards making trouble. Whether they made the right decision in simply shutting down the event is up for debate, but jumping straight to it being some sort of liberal conspiracy ignores the legit safety concerns that an institution like that has to deal with.

Maybe the university should do a better job of controlling the security threats the allow on their campus that keeps people out.

Political games or rabid students they willingly let ruin the campus, either way, it's the university who's to blame for their campus not being safe and welcome to everyone.

[RickJamesLich]

You have a romantic view of college that simply doesn't exist.

Nah I disagree, I think this election alone shows that there are LOTS of college students that are interested in what occurs with our government and in society in general. Of course some people just go there and want to get high or drunk lol, that's not the case with everyone though. Even those people that want to get high or drunk have at least some opinions on what's right and wrong with the government and society today. So why not let them explore it? But while doing it, let them hear different opinions.

Like I said, you may disagree but watch some of Shapiro's other University speeches, I think you'll find that both people who agree and disagree with the guy are very passionate about it.

[Deleted]

The rot on American campuses continues.

All the arguments going on in this thread are irrelevant. It doesn't matter if you think there's no value in allowing him the platform, or whether you like him, or whether this student group is really libertarian or not.

The only takeaway from this is that DePaul is admitting that the safe-space students they're churning out of their shit-tier Feminist Interpretive Dance courses cannot be trusted not to lash out like animals when they are in earshot of a contradicting or controversial conservative opinion. They are acknowledging that they are a breeding ground for violent fascists and, after an incident already at another talk, can't guarantee the safety of the speaker or the attendees.

Good shit. This is what we want universities to be like.

[Dextroden]

The rot on American campuses continues.

All the arguments going on in this thread are irrelevant. It doesn't matter if you think there's no value in allowing him the platform, or whether you like him, or whether this student group is really libertarian or not.

The only takeaway from this is that DePaul is admitting that the safe-space students they're churning out of their shit-tier Feminist Interpretive Dance courses cannot be trusted not to lash out like animals when they are in earshot of a contradicting or controversial conservative opinion. They are acknowledging that they are a breeding ground for violent fascists and, after an incident already at another talk, can't guarantee the safety of the speaker or the attendees.

Good shit. This is what we want universities to be like.

At the end of the day, this is the real take away. A facility for education just mass manufacturing people unable to debate or reason with or against opposition without getting loud or violent.

The shining example of the next generation.

[RickJamesLich]

I don't know why you think I hate Sharpio. I don't give a shit about any of these people. I even explicitly told you that I don't care about Shapiro several posts ago. I don't care about Sharpio or Milo or O'Reilly or Trump or any other person associated with the right wing. I may have an opinion about them or their effectiveness or fitness for their job, but I basically just ignore their existence unless they force their way into my line of sight.


Regardless, I was objecting to your suggestion that not letting people like Shapiro speak at a university somehow dooms the students to a narrow perspective because that narrow perspective is mostly the result of individual motivations. I'm not saying it can't have a detrimental effect, only that you're assigning it too much significance in the process of cultivating a broad perspective.

Life is pretty boring Nixx if you only hear one perspective, why not give Shapiro a shot and check out one of his videos?

As for dooming the children, no the children are not doomed. University's are not living up to their role of educating students if they only let them hear one side of a story though. This in particular is self evident with political issues. Nixx, how do you suggest we should fix the issue of narrow perspectives if we aren't going to even promote ideological diversity at Universities? When should we decide people are capable of listening to different perspectives? In their 30's perhaps? Should we leave the burden of educating our young adults to places like twitter instead?

[Underverse]

I mean, he's right. I don't know who this Shapiro guy is but there probably isn't a good reason for this.

[Northy]

We should stop pretending every opinion is worth hearing.

Their opinions are not objectively incorrect, and therefore worthy of hearing. Keep your safe space snowflake mindset to yourself.

[RickJamesLich]

Generally speaking, it is too late to start laying a foundation for who you want people to be by the time they get to college. It needs to start at a young age and be encouraged by parents and K-12 education.

Nah, education is a constant thing and college is a time for a higher level of studying, that and learning about opposing view points goes hand in hand. The University on a level of integrity is wrong here. It appears the University is so worried about Ben Shapiro possibly inciting violence from BLM or BLM supporters, SJW's, feminists, and others that they don't want Ben to speak is pretty much the worst way they could handle this issue. This is like if feminists held a speech, and the KKK crashed it and caused havoc, so they decided "Ok, we aren't going to have any more feminist speakers anymore".

The University's actions are based on bad logic, plain and simple. Your justification that "well, not many will attend or be influenced" isn't working lol.