All across the nation universities are facing major difficulties under free speech rights. Any views other than the majority are being asked to no longer voice them. Topics like religion, racism and homophobia are avoided because they might be offensive or upsetting. Students fighting for equal rights now tread on the rights of others, “…student activists seem to think the solution to their having been silenced for far too long others is silencing others.” (Chhokra, When Is Censorship Okay?) The best way to face these tough issues is to discuss them but students have been taught its okay to silence voices that disagree. When Portland Community College announced Whiteness History month they were immediately hit with backlash. Most peoples’ first reaction was to think that this was inherently racist, why would white people need more recognition? When people realized this was not a celebration of white people but a chance to have an intelligent and tough conversation about how white people came to be the way they are and there relations to other races the backlash disappeared. We should encourage this behavior because you can’t fix problems by ignoring them. If you censor opposing voices you can never have the chance to discuss and even change those
All across the nation universities are facing major difficulties under free speech rights. Any views other than the majority are being asked to no longer voice them. Topics like religion, racism and homophobia are avoided because they might be offensive or upsetting. Students fighting for equal rights now tread on the rights of others, “…student activists seem to think the solution to their having been silenced for far too long others is silencing others.” (Chhokra, When Is Censorship Okay?) The best way to face these tough issues is to discuss them but students have been taught its okay to silence voices that disagree. When Portland Community College announced Whiteness History month they were immediately hit with backlash. Most peoples’ first reaction was to think that this was inherently racist, why would white people need more recognition? When people realized this was not a celebration of white people but a chance to have an intelligent and tough conversation about how white people came to be the way they are and there relations to other races the backlash disappeared. We should encourage this behavior because you can’t fix problems by ignoring them. If you censor opposing voices you can never have the chance to discuss and even change those