If the freedom of speech may be taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. -- George Washington
The leftist powers in charge at U.C. – Berkeley may have just overstepped their absurd bounds and caused even their political soulmates to call them on the carpet. Long heralded as the birthplace of the free speech movement, Berkeley has been the scene of violence when conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulous was sent packing instead of being permitted to speak on campus.
Now it seems they’ve stepped in it and drawn a lawsuit from the students who invited conservative firebrand Ann Coulter to speak in the hallowed halls of Berkeley. The College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation are suing the university saying they were, “seeking to "burden or ban" events "involving the expression of conservative viewpoints," according to Reuters.
The groups filed the lawsuit against Janet Napolitano, the president of the University of California, and other university officials in a San Francisco federal court on Monday. They asked the court to fine the school and award damages to organizers of the Coulter event.
Ms. Coulter says she intends to go forward with her talk on Thursday. Meanwhile, those on the left – yes, the left – are turning on Berkeley and standing with Ann:
From liberal TV host Bill Maher:
But Berkeley, you know, used to be the cradle of free speech, and now it’s just the cradle for f—ing babies.
From Marc Randazza in an op-ed for CNN:
Berkeley should be the epicenter of the marketplace of ideas. Unfortunately, it has become the most intolerant place in America. I would feel more comfortable preaching for Sharia law in rural Mississippi than I would feel challenging the wage gap theory or speaking out against anti-Asian discrimination in admissions at Berkeley.
From Bernie Sanders:
To me, it’s a sign of intellectual weakness,” he said. “If you can’t ask Ann Coulter in a polite way questions which expose the weakness of her arguments, if all you can do is boo, or shut her down, or prevent her from coming, what does that tell the world?
Instead of re-hashing all the many and various instances of conservatives being shut down on campuses nationwide, (most of which our readers already know) perhaps it’s best to allow another famous – and hardly rightwing American have the last word to this latest First Amendment debacle in America.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
