Is free speech a dying right here in the United States?
Not yet, according to Milo Yiannopolous, former editor of Breitbart News and professional provocateur. He announced plans for a multi-day event to be held at the University of California Berkeley, a liberal school that he appeared at last February for a campus event.
Protesters interrupted the event, throwing rocks, setting fires, and breaking windows, which led to the cancellation of the event.
However, he will return to UC Berkeley in spite of the previous protests. “In light of recent controversies, I am planning a huge multi-day event called Milo’s Free Speech Week in Berkeley later this year,” he wrote on Facebook. ”We will stand united against the ‘progressive’ Left. We will loudly reject the venomous hectoring and moral hypocrisy of social justice warriors. Free speech belongs to everyone — not just the spoilt brats of the academy.”
Yiannopolous, who is a gay conservative provocateur, champions causes such as immigration crackdown and free speech. He is outspoken against the leftist agenda, abortion, and feminism. Yiannopolous, though British, took to social media to promote Donald Trump throughout the United States presidential elections. These positions make him incredibly unpopular with democrats in particular and those who hold more liberal mindsets.
Milo’s Free Speech Week promises to be a source of contention for what has been labeled by Fox News as one of the most liberal universities in one of America’s most liberal cities.
“I intend to return Berkeley to its rightful place as the home of free speech — whether university administrators and violent far-left antifa thugs like it or not,” he concludes in his post.
Though his methods fall victim to extreme criticism and scrutiny, for many, Yiannopolous stands as a beacon for free speech and freedom in the United States as well as Europe. He is by no means conventional but he makes it his mission to communicate the slow death that freedom of speech endures in the country today.
Is the death of the First Amendment as imminent as Yiannopolous believes?
The incident at UC Berkeley in February is just one example of how emotions are beginning to be a valid form of censorship here in the United States. Despite the backlash, Yiannopolous believes that free speech is a worthwhile fight.
“Free speech has never been more under threat in America — especially at the supposed home of the free speech movement,” his Facebook post reads. He offers Berkeley an ultimatum: “If UC Berkeley does not actively assist us in the planning and execution of this event, we will extend festivities to an entire month.”
