The week they canceled the debate on Middle East policy at my school

Last Tuesday, the student government at UC Berkeley pulled the plug on a planned debate between two professors with different views on the conflict, saying it might cause 'harm'. I think that's wrong. We need to hear tough arguments, not hide from them. Has your campus shut down an event lately for similar reasons?

4 comments

4 Comments

jadej501mo ago

Sometimes the attempt to hide something just gives it a bigger platform" - I actually don't agree. Canceling a talk usually makes fewer people see it, not more. Most folks just move on to the next thing.

the_thomas2mo ago

My friend's campus talk got canceled last week.

leehall2mo ago

Censorship always hurts more than the speech it tries to hide.

hayden_craig952mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah that line about it hurting more really hits home. My buddy had a similar thing happen with a local community talk. What worked for us was just filming the whole talk ourselves and putting it online. The cancellation got more people to watch it than would have shown up in person. Sometimes the attempt to hide something just gives it a bigger platform.