Jim Bratten
Free Speech Prevailed – This Time
On September 7, 2017 this appeared in the UC Berkeley Newsletter: “We are deeply concerned about the impact some speakers may have on individuals’ sense of safety and belonging. No one should be made to feel threatened or harassed… Support services are being offered and encouraged.”
Chants heard (with accompanying signs) at the UC Berkeley protest of Ben Shapiro’s appearance on September 14: “Speech is violent! We will not be silent!” Apparently, the incompatibility of those two exclamations was lost on the protesters who conceived the linkage. Not surprising.
In preparation for the speaking engagement of Shapiro, to address the student groups who had invited him, UC Berkeley offered special counseling (support services) for “snowflakes” who might be offended after hearing conservative ideas from the 33 year-old orthodox Jew. But the snowflakes weren’t the students who invited him to speak and probably wouldn’t 
listen to what Ben had to say anyway. They were leftists attempting to stop the speech of anyone who disagrees with progressives.
Shapiro appeared and spoke to his audience, but the cost of security to the city of Berkeley and the UC campus (estimated at $600,000) was not on his shoulders. Security had to be arranged due to threats from Antifa, whose fascist disrupters threatened to stop Ben’s exercise of free speech. If there had been no Antifa threats there would have been only fractional security costs… with freedom of speech preserved.
American Flag – Meaningless
Back in April, UC Davis students in the school’s student senate decided that the American flag is “optional” at their meetings, since “it means different things to different people.” They didn’t “see a need” to display the American flag. The rule that existed about displaying the flag at their meetings, they said, was “outdated.”
Eliminate display of our flag, the symbol of our nation, and you eliminate the ideas it stands for. Neglect to teach a generation the purpose of our nation, what it stands for and why it exists, and you get a bevy of duped football players “taking a knee” during the national anthem. Unfortunately, the incident at UC Davis is not unusual, or surprising, considering how our government education establishment has worked so diligently to eradicate any sense of duty to country or patriotism from the minds of our youth.
Snowflakes Going Bananas
A student at Ole Miss was walking across campus, eating a banana. He couldn’t find a suitable receptacle in which to dispose of the peel so he tossed it into a tree. No one would see it up there; no one would know.
Somewhat later, a female student happened along, saw the peel dangling from the tree branch and suffered trauma from an anxiety attack. She complained to the administration so they immediately set up a “safe space.” Greek Retreat activities planned by fraternities and sororities on campus were canceled due to the chaos. Attendees left for more sane environments.
The student who tossed the peel, puzzled at the crisis, apologized for his thoughtlessness and the campus chaos it caused. For many decades, banana peels had been thrown throughout the Caribbean and countless places in the Western Hemisphere, never causing such fear and anxiety. How was he to know?
Ole Miss administrators have conducted an investigation into “the situation” and why a black female on campus would feel racially slighted or offended to the point of trauma, but there’s no word on findings yet.
The longer we accommodate this silliness, reinforcing groundless fears and baseless apprehension, the more we can expect a future supply of socially inept, incompetent citizens. As Ben Franklin thoughtfully observed, “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”
Hoosier Patriots, Inc. is an educational and organizational non-profit for restoration, preservation and defense of the Constitution. We provide conservative commentary on public policy and government action across a variety of issues concerning the well-being of the republic. For more information go to www.vc-tpp.org or subscribe to the newsletter at hpnw.jimb@gmail.com.
