College protesters love buzzwords — free college, free healthcare, social justice, tolerance, equality, and the like. The buzzword phrase of the week is ‘safe space,’ demanding a protected, unquestioning, inoffensive, and utopian environment where students can never have their feelings hurt.
South Park did a hilarious parody song mocking this sad concept, showing characters running away from a dark figure named “Reality.”
Not all of these protesters deserves to be mocked (just most of them); surely, some of them have legitimate grievances.
But, the answer to a few instances of legitimate hate isn’t to kill the Bill of Rights. We’ve seen countless protest leaders call for the end of the 1st Amendment so campuses can restrict speech and create ‘safe spaces.’
Here’s the irony: America was founded as a safe space — a countrywide safe space for free expression, free speech, and free thought.
Segregating campuses as politically correct ‘safe spaces’ goes against everything our founders and leaders have fought for — from James Madison and George Washington, to Abraham Lincoln, World War veterans, Martin Luther King, and the millions of others who made sacrifices to grow Americans’ freedoms.
Cracking down on minority opinions or opinions deemed ‘offensive’ or ‘unwelcome’ is exactly what these leaders fought against.
Talking about self-government was deemed intolerable by the British; talking about freeing the slaves was radical for decades; talking about religion was banned by the Third Reich; and talking about voting rights and desegregation was unwelcome in much of the South and sparked violent debates.
But, time and again, America defeated those who attacked free speech and freedom’s progress.
We defended our right to talk, our right to bring about new ideas — and defended this right with blood and treasure for over two and a half centuries. It is part of the American ethos.
Instead of fighting to create required classes on political correctness, these protesters need to take a class on American history to appreciate how our Constitution and our national leaders created a safe space for their free speech — even their speech demanding an end to others’ rights.
