Freedom of Speech vs the 'Right' to a Platform (Or, Milo Just Wants to Throw Bombs)

It seems to me that internet reactionaries can't get it through their fuckin' heads that Freedom of Speech does not entitle one to a platform. But that doesn't seem to matter to youtube talking heads defending a turd-flinging troll like Milo Yianopolous or the supposedly left-wing 'But FREEZE PEACH!!!11!!' fascist enablers. That's right. I'm going there. Why? Because allowing dickheads like Milo a platform or the 'right' to an opinion is exactly why we ended up with Trumpy Boy to begin with.

Besides, if UC Berkeley had any sense to do even a little research on the SOB, they'd never allowed him to be anywhere near a platform to start with (Twitter hate campaigns, anyone?).

There, I've said my piece.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

gulfgal98's picture

I disagree with both of your points. I will defend the freedom of speech even if I find it offensive. Actually the First Amendment only guarantees that the government cannot abridge freedom of speech. But this is exactly what happened to the Occupy Movement which was ALL about free speech and the government at all levels and often coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security shut it down. Our freedom to speak openly about many things has already been severely curtailed and the last thing we need is even more censorship.

Second, assholes like Milo Yianopolous are not what gave us Donald Trump as President. Neoliberalism and the Democratic party's wholesale embrace of it is exactly why we ended up with Donald Trump. People were tired of the governmental policies, most of which were enacted by Bill Clinton and fully embraced by Barack Obama, which screwed them over, caused a deep depression from which most people have never recovered and Obama did nothing to help them. Hillary Clinton represented more of the same. Desperate people will try desperate measures and many Obama voters either stayed home or even voted for Trump.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

thanatokephaloides's picture

@gulfgal98

assholes like Milo Yianopolous are not what gave us Donald Trump as President. Neoliberalism and the Democratic party's wholesale embrace of it is exactly why we ended up with Donald Trump. People were tired of the governmental policies, most of which were enacted by Bill Clinton and fully embraced by Barack Obama, which screwed them over, caused a deep depression from which most people have never recovered and Obama did nothing to help them. Hillary Clinton represented more of the same. Desperate people will try desperate measures and many Obama voters either stayed home or even voted for Trump.
up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

nt

up
0 users have voted.

chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

edg's picture

Your interpretation of free speech limits the right of others, and those others would like to limit your rights. Do you really think there's no one that thinks Milo epitomizes free speech while your heroes are the evil enemies of it? Your essay would be right at home on a rightwing website just by substituting the name of a progressive icon for Milo and changing one or two other words.

up
0 users have voted.
The Aspie Corner's picture

@edg There has been NO effective left-wing in the US for decades. Anytime any left movement builds, at all, the corporations and government are quick to send out the goons, i.e. Occupy Wall Street. If they aren't doing that, the fuckers are sending in agent-provocateurs to ruin protests or co-opt the message.

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

For one thing I find his prancing pony showmanship to be 'absolutely fabulous!' and certain to bring a chuckle.
For another because it's hard to 'know thine enemy' if they only speak in secret.
But mostly because I think people should listen to him.
Amidst his Dangerous Gay trolling act is food for thought for the left. Primarily what I see from him is a ridicule of the 'you can't say that' PC crowd. A just ridicule I often find.
I don't know that much of Milo, very little really, a few YouTube's. So far I haven't disagreed with him profoundly or found reason to despise him. Now, I don't plan on becoming a Milo expert as once you've seen the show ya know. But if there's something so obviously wrong that I should know about, point me to it and I'll look.
For now I say,
Let him talk, let him troll. It's important to know how those who oppose you think. Refute his positions or adjust your world view as necessary seems to me the only self-true course of action. The left is not flawless.
Political bubbles are bad wherever you find them.

up
0 users have voted.

With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

PriceRip's picture

          I am teaching (an on request) Special Topics : Elementary Particle Physics course. Milo Yianopolous has no right to prevent me from interacting with those students as they attempt to further their understanding of that particular topic. Put another way: Milo Yianopolous has to respect my right to free speech, and the rights of each of those students. I am under no obligation to listen to him.

          Stay out of my classroom. Anyone disagree?

up
0 users have voted.
PriceRip's picture

@PriceRip
          The hall outside the classroom I use is used extensively. The traffic is heavy but the noise is light as students travel to and from their other science classes. Milo Yianopolous has no right to set up his "soapbox" outside my classroom and create a disturbance.

          I am teaching (an on request) Special Topics : Elementary Particle Physics course. Milo Yianopolous has no right to prevent me from interacting with those students as they attempt to further their understanding of that particular topic. Put another way: Milo Yianopolous has to respect my right to free speech, and the rights of each of those students. I am under no obligation to listen to him.

Stay out of the hall outside my classroom. Anyone disagree?

up
0 users have voted.
The Aspie Corner's picture

@PriceRip He's a well-paid professional shit-poster for a known bigoted right-wing internet rag so I'm sure he knew there would be backlash. Apparently James O'Keefe was also involved in this one 'exposing' paid rioters. Give me a break.

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

PriceRip's picture

@The Aspie Corner
          The only efforts to suppress speech have been political science professors trying to suppress me from discussing issues associated with nuclear weapons being transported through Nebraska. Or suppress me from talking about agricultural practices in Nebraska, and a whole host of other issues I brought up during my tenure at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

          I am disturbed by the number of people that confuse the right of freedom of speech with the right to a platform or even the notion that I have an obligation to hear your speech. In all the years of getting attacked I never once cried "freedom of speech" or "academic freedom" I just shredded their sophomore "logic" and left them bleeding out in a dark alley on the far side of the moon. I despise pseudo intellectual posturing, it is so pathetically pedantic.

up
0 users have voted.
Not Henry Kissinger's picture

is a publicly funded university and therefore is certainly subject to 1st Amendment prohibitions against the abridgement of political speech (See Kincaid v. Gibson, et al.).

if UC Berkeley had any sense to do even a little research on the SOB, they'd never allowed him to be anywhere near a platform to start with

and by imposing a content based restriction on the event organizers, UC Berkeley would be committing an illegal and unconstitutional act.

up
0 users have voted.

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger

UC Berkeley... is a publicly funded university and therefore is certainly subject to 1st Amendment prohibitions against the abridgement of political speech (See Kincaid v. Gibson, et al.).

There are disadvantages to being a publicly financed university; this is one of them.

The only reason that the SAE (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) expulsion from the University of Oklahoma was upheld is that the offensive song in question advocated the commission of serious felonies (murders) to prevent black candidates from pledging SAE. Every court challenge has consistently held that advocacy of heinous felony is not Constitutionally protected speech at all. OU had not just the right, but the obligation, to remove the entirety of the offending organization from its campuses as the right of the public to attend OU in safety outweighs the non-right of anybody to advocate murder. It is also well worth noting that the national SAE organization dissolved the offending chapter as well; if OU is ever to have SAE on its campus again, it will have to be started over again from scratch.

Milo Yianopolous did none of these things, at least to any information I can obtain. And, PriceRip: he arranged for a publicly available speaking hall on the University campus, not the space normally occupied by you and your students. All you have to do to not be exposed to his swill is: don't go to the event. Simple and easy as pie. (In fact, pie is quite a bit harder, as anyone can tell you who has ever made one!)

Wink

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

TheOtherMaven's picture

Refuse to attend, persuade other people not to attend, and pointedly ignore (or even publicly mock) the sonofabitch. He has the legal right to rant and rave, but he cannot compel people to come and listen to his rantings.

"Free speech" is a two way street. If someone wants to make a flaming ass of themselves, they have to be prepared for other people who will make fun of the flaming ass.

up
0 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.