A Double Wrong

"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker." - Frederick Douglass

"Free speech is dead, and Berkeley killed it."

That seems to be the prevailing sentiment among many on both the left and the right this past week, as the fallout from violent protests that occurred at UC Berkeley in response to a planned appearance by conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopolous continues to be felt across the nation. According to the university, 150 "masked agitators" arrived to disturb an otherwise peaceful protest outside of the MLK student union center, causing over $100,000 in damage. College officials were forced to cancel the event two hours early and evacuate the Breitbart editor from the campus, while black-clad protesters hurled rocks, fireworks, and even Molotov cocktails at police, as well as smashed windows and set fire to the student union building where the event was to be held.

As the protest spiraled out of control, police ordered a campus-wide lockdown and demanded immediate dispersal of more than 1,500 protesters gathered.

.@UCBerkeley Milo event cancelled. Shelter in place if on campus. All campus buildings on lockdown. #miloatcal

— UC Police, Berkeley (@UCPD_Cal) February 2, 2017 

In a statement, university officials said: "We condemn in the strongest possible terms the violence and unlawful behavior that was on display and deeply regret that those tactics will now overshadow the efforts to engage in legitimate and lawful protest against the performer's presence and perspectives. While Yiannopoulos' views, tactics and rhetoric are profoundly contrary to our own, we are bound by the Constitution, the law, our values and the campus's Principles of Community to enable free expression across the full spectrum of opinion and perspective."

Yiannopolus, a highly controversial and deliberately provacative right-wing speaker, had been invited by Berkeley College Republicans to speak at the highly liberal campus, and later released a statement of his own on Facebook:

Whether you agree with Milo or despise his existence, these violent protests accomplish literally nothing; if anything, they're counterproductive to the entire concept of free speech. It's incredibly ironic that such a thing happened at Berkeley, considering it's the home of the original Free Speech Movement. 

Image courtesy of UC Berkeley Archives. 

Berkeley students organized the FSM in 1964 to protest the ban on campus political speech and advocate for civil rights, including those of minority students. Unfortunately, it seems that the spirit of that movement has largely vanished from the university, and has been replaced with intolerance for free speech masquerading as social justice and "protection" from hate speech. 

To be clear, I agree that the students had a right to protest something they didn't agree with. And to be fair, it's not certain how many of the protesters were students and how many were outside anarchists from the Black Bloc, a known radical organization that's been harassing Berkeley for years. But the fact remains that the incident is a slap in the face to free speech advocates, and entirely antithetical to what the protesters were trying to accomplish. Now, conservatives across the country are using the riot to exemplify the "danger" of student protesters and their liberal attitudes, which could have disastrous effects on the university itself, including losing its federal funding. 

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017 

Like I said, disastrous. And what's worse, a sizable portion of Berkeley's student body is perfectly willing to defend the riots, with the student newspaper publishing a whopping 5 editorials in support, telling critics to "check their privilege" and labeling police "violent agents of the state". Because the cops were the ones burning things down, at the MLK building no less; if there was ever a man who appreciated free speech, he'd be the one.

As of now, the FBI has launched an investigation into the riots, while Berkeley is being skewered by the scandal-hungry media as a home of intolerance and triggered, insensitive liberals who represent everything wrong with this country. To me, this incident emphasizes the need for free speech on college campuses; without it, it seems, we'll all burn ourselves down because we didn't like what someone else was saying. Surely, we can come up with a better reason than that to start a riot.

Beating Ohio State, for example...