To all who are “triggered” by the free exchange of ideas:
Be
careful what you agitate for…once you go down the road of restricting
liberty of conscience and expression, you will find there is no end to
the paranoia, lust for power, and totalitarianism lurking just below the
surface. We now have the marginal at the center and the center at the
margins.
The lessons of the French Revolution, the evils of the USSR’s formation and expansion, Mao’s murderous Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s destruction of Cambodia, Iran’s self-immolation…all of these started with words like “freedom” and “the people” and ended with authoritarians killing “counterrevolutionary” people.
Now we have feminist pioneers being eviscerated for not wanting men to compete in women’s sports. Science is thrown out the window and feelings reign supreme. Religious business owners (only Christian, by the way) are targeted for destruction. Arresting thieves becomes a cause for accusations of a “history of racism” with college leaders agitating…and when found out, hiding behind the very First Amendment they hate so much.
Cambridge scholars cannot speak at Oxford. Former Muslims are forced off platforms. Exposure of jihadism becomes a cause for accusation of another “phobe.”
We can do better in a free and virtuous society. But we must have the character and courage to debate without rancor and live peaceably with our deepest differences.