The University of California, Berkeley was the birthplace of the free speech movement in the 1960’s. Today, it is the home of the ironically named “anti”-fascist movement. What happened between then and now? Liberals and conservatives used to be best friends on campus. They could engage in political discourse without repercussions in class, from other students “offended” by ideas. Today’s campus is extremely, and unrelentingly, liberal without apology. Liberal professors force their views upon all students without the chance for rebuttal, or the student is targeted for having a differing opinion. The rise of liberals on campus can be attributed to four main things: liberals in popular culture, the acceptance of socialism, the lack of intellectual diversity, and the rise of liberal intolerance.
Liberals have completely taken over the media and pop culture. Almost every TV show, movie, news station, Broadway play, and video you find on YouTube are made by liberals. The most notable ones being late night “news” satire shows like The Daily Show and Full Frontal. Now don’t get me wrong, on rare occasion these shows get the facts right and are fair to their targets, but 98% of the time, that is not the case. When was the last time a conservative, or even center-right person hosted one of these shows? Never. Liberals have tapped into the formula to attract viewers both young and old and indoctrinate them to the point where they never question what they’re told.
Socialism, and its siblings communism and fascism, have literally lead to deaths of over 100 million people globally, and that’s the low estimate. Yet somehow, repackaging what was called national socialism as democratic socialism makes it better. The left argues that it is “compassionate” and decided by the people. This is completely false. I wonder what the people starving and dying in Venezuela, who voted for democratic socialism, would say to that? Or those who fled Castro’s “free” healthcare and handouts for everyone? I dare any college socialist to go live under any socialist or communist government, and then come back and decide if they still support socialism, not including the Nordic countries who are capitalist. Just because you vote to take someone else’s money away does not make it justified, it is still theft.
Conservative professors are sorely lacking on campus today, being outnumbered by liberal professors at a ratio slightly more than 12 liberals for 1 conservative. Why has this happened? Well, we’re not exactly sure, but liberals appear to enjoy jobs in academia. It may also have something to do with the rise of the administrative monster that has taken over campus. Most notably, Yale has seen at 25% increase in administrative positions and a 4% decrease in professors. The administrators and professors are attempting to shield their students from conservative views. Such views could quite possibly lead to the elimination of their jobs in the future, as they were created by liberal snowflakes. The best proof of this comes from tolerant leftist protesters who preach about inclusion and diversity, except for that of conservatives or anyone who disagrees.
The best examples to date are the protests of conservative speakers on college campuses, specifically Milo Yiannopolos and Ben Shapiro. Starting in the winter of 2017, Milo was set to give a speech at UC Berkley, but he was shut down by violent leftist protests and had to be evacuated from the premises. Multiple people were attacked and injured simply for exercising their right to free speech. It doesn’t matter what anyone says, as long as you do not pose an immediate threat of violence, no one has the right to stop you from speaking. In Milo’s case, he posed no threat to anyone. The people who acted violently, known as Antifa, were the ones who shut him down. Milo is returned this week to UC Berkeley, so hopefully you watched the news and witnessed the intolerance of the UC Berkeley administration.
In the case of Ben Shapiro, the UC Berkeley administration attempted to shut him down by using sly tactics and sudden deadlines and paperwork to limit his audience and force him to pay for extra security out of pocket. The administration did everything they could possibly do without directly coming out and saying, “we are afraid of Shapiro’s thought-provoking ideas!” However, his voice was able to prevail on campus and through social media.
The first amendment is under attack from those who feel that people should not be allowed to say mean things about them. Unfortunately for the left, the U.S. Constitution does not allow your rights to trump that of another simply because you’re offended. It’s time for universities to actually become tolerant and allow conservative views on campus.
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