There are several problems/inaccuracies with this.
That universities exist to allow the pre-exchange of ideas and information is true,
but at the same time you don’t find any sort of worthwhile university promoting things that have been demonstrated to be wrong years, decades, or centuries earlier. And yes; opinions can definitely be wrong.
- Universities do not have classes on the benefits of slavery or torture.
- Universities do not hire professors to teach racial inequality or the correctness of the Nazi 3rd Reich. That the Earth is the center of the solar system, or that the value of pi is close enough to 3.0 that engineers can go ahead and operate with that.
- They DO hire professors of
history to teach students how such outdated beliefs are not only wrong, but dangerous to the believers and to the societies in which those beliefs held sway.
Well, of course they don't necessarily
teach those things, although I have heard of schools like the School of the Americas which taught torturers (among other notorious people). All the personnel from our intelligence agencies, military, and foreign service had to go to school and learn their trade somewhere. But that's all beside the point; I was just mentioning it as a point of order.
I don't know that you're giving an accurate depiction of the kinds of individuals and speech which have been banned or shouted down on campus. We're not talking about outright Nazis here, even if some people wish to portray them as such. When there are people out there who think Trump is Hitler, then I find reason to question their ability to judge and discern such things. (Trump was born in 1946, a year after Hitler died, so I think that's pretty conclusive evidence that Trump is NOT Hitler. Yet some people still think that he is. Am I supposed to take such people seriously? Are these the kind of people who are even capable of understanding and recognizing different ideas and beliefs?)
I've seen people on campus with some rather unconventional and downright crazy ideas. I remember one disheveled old man who had a sign claiming that "silent radio" is controlling our minds (yet he wasn't wearing a tinfoil hat). He was obviously a loon, but nobody bothered him. I think most people felt sorry for him more than anything else, but even if he had a crazy and/or outdated belief, it didn't seem to pose any danger and nobody felt threatened. Although he wasn't invited to formally speak at the campus; he just wandered in.
I do not need to hear the self-agrandizing and worthless prattle of some racist or misogynist child on campus, in order to use him as an example of what was once so wrong with humanity and society. A picture of them, or of a slave being whipped, or a “witch” being burned alive, etc.... is all that is required. Thank you very much.
While I agree that shouting down an invited speaker is poor manners; I also believe that whichever university student groups, university administrators, or others, who request that a speaker be allowed to come onto campus just to hail the ‘wonders’ of ignorance, hatred, intolerance, etc.....should have their ability to invite speakers (along with their very continuance on campus) to be heavily scrutinized.
The thing that strikes me about it is that, when people feel the need to heckle or shout down someone, they act like they're on some sort of crusade. The implication is that, if they weren't there to enlighten everyone with their shrill, piercing screams, everyone else in the audience would suddenly become transformed into Nazis before our very eyes, just from listening to a speech.
There seems to be some sense of urgency in that "if we don't heckle, shout down, or otherwise disrupt this speaker, then everyone will start to agree with him, and then we'll all be up the creek."
If nothing else, it's an insult to the rest of the audience, implying that they're not capable of understanding, and that they
need this heckler there to save them from doom.
They seem to believe that they are "protectors" of the poor sheep who would otherwise be lost if not for the dedication and devotion of these wonderful defenders of freedom. I think it's a sign of arrogance bordering on delusion. I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, but they shouldn't let it go to their head or make more of it than it really is.
