f**********n
发帖数: 29853 | 1 Ben Shapiro, a noted conservative columnist and author, discussed freedom of
speech Thursday evening in the Rackham Graduate School Amphitheatre,
drawing a crowd of approximately 300.
The event — hosted by the Young Americans for Freedom with funding from
Central Student Government — highlighted issues Shapiro described as
attacks on freedom of speech and a free society, such as microaggressions
and the concept of privilege.
The event follows a week in which freedom of speech has been a prominent
issue on campus, following anti-Islam chalkings on the Diag alongside pro-
Trump messages, which garnered national media attention and prompted
discussions about hate speech and the safety of Muslim students.
CSG discussed the issue at length in their final meeting of the semester on
Tuesday and ultimately passed a resolution making the University a sanctuary
campus for immigrants.
Shapiro began his talk by addressing the chalkings, saying he wouldn’t
normally support Trump except in instances people are offended by messages
of support for Trump, proceeding to write “Trump 2016” on a chalkboard.
“There is only one thing that I can do to support Trump,” he said, “when
there are precious snowflakes who whine and cry when people write pro-Trump
things on the ground.”
Shapiro also addressed the controversy he has recently attracted at events
on other campuses, such as a February speech at California State University,
Los Angeles.
[Twitter:https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/703003637249781761?ref_src=
twsrc%5Etfw]
[Twitter:https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/703002980442775553?ref_src=
twsrc%5Etfw]
At CSULA, a police escort was required for Shapiro’s exit following his
speech, according to tweets Shapiro sent out at the time. The talk at CSULA
was initially cancelled by CSULA President William Covino, who stated at the
time he wanted to reschedule the event and involve other speakers to create
a diversity of viewpoints.
Shapiro charged that CSULA was stopping a diversity of opinion by preventing
his talk, saying that “diversity” is one of the words liberals frequently
use, but only use in the context of race and not in reference to diversity
of opinion.
“Diversity here meant that I had to shut up,” he said. “The kind of
diversity that the Left loves is restricted... to diversity of skin color.”
At the University, flyers put up by YAF promoting the event were torn down
across campus and an advertisement put out by the group was vandalized,
according to the group’s website.
LSA sophomore Grant Strobl, one of the event’s organizers, said Shapiro’s
talk offered a space to hear opposing viewpoints in a moderated context.
“The event was a resounding success,” he said. “This event impacted
campus by giving an example of an event where we all can listen to ideas
that we might agree with and do it civilly. We need to have more discussions
on campus without worrying about it being shut down.”
Talking about another one of his five topics, microaggressions — common,
seemingly minor but offensive comments often directed at a minority group or
individual — Shapiro told an anecdote of a time when he called a
transgender woman “sir” on national television, and she responded with a
joking threat.
He said the other panelists he was with then reprimanded him for his
offensive remark, validating the woman’s aggressive response. Allowing this
sort of response to a microaggression, he added, infringes on his right to
speak freely and make his own decisions.
“You can not like what I say, but that doesn’t give you the right to put
your hands on me,” he said. “All of this creates a very dangerous world.
The Left is taking a battering ram to those two fundamental bases of Western
civilization: You are responsible for your own actions and in a free
society you can say things without people assaulting you.”
Shapiro also touched on privilege, saying the concept of white privilege is
a myth and can instead be replaced by other types of privilege like two-
parent household privilege and crime privilege. To back up his point, he
cited a series of statistics that showed children raised in single parent
households do disproportionately worse than those from two-parent households
, regardless of race.
Looking at criminal justice, Shapiro argued that racial profiling does not
occur, and instead police stop or arrest minorities at rates proportional to
the rates they commit crimes. He said the easiest way to avoid being
arrested is to avoid committing a crime.
“It turns out that if you want to avoid prison, the easiest way to do that
is to actually not commit a crime,” he said. “Here’s a fact about the
supposedly evil and racist justice system: It under-prosecutes murder in
minority communities.”
Several national reports show that people of color are often arrested at
higher rates than white individuals. According to the Washington Post, Black
drivers are twice as likely to be arrested during a traffic stop as whites.
Additionally, in Dearborn, more than half of the arrests in 2011 and 2012
were of Black citizens. However, Blacks only make up 4 percent of the town’
s population, according to DiversityInc.
Addressing a question about how to participate in debates with supporters of
Bernie Sanders — who won the Michigan primary and has a large support base
on campus — Shapiro said one should ask questions or simply not
participate in discussion.
“One of the things I always urge people to do is ask questions,” he said.
“The second recommendation is don’t engage the guy. I mean, come on, you
only have so many breaths left in your life.”
LSA freshman Michael Smith said Shapiro’s talk gave a forum for students to
learn about different sides of the political debate.
“I think a lot of people are riled up because of the recent political
election,” he said. “But they don’t really take the time to look at the
other side. If they did, it would moderate a lot of people’s heated
opinions.”
http://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/ben-shapiro-talks-tru |
|
