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Discerning Hate Speech from Free Speech
When athletes kneel for our National Anthem, that is called “free speech.” When others criticize them, that is called “hate speech.” There was a good example of this recently at a Nebraska volleyball game (emphasis mine):
When the national anthem was sung before the match, a few Maryland players took a knee, which has occurred at other sporting events when student-athletes want to publicly protest something.
A few Nebraska spectators yelled at the Maryland players to “stand up.” Those shouts only lasted for a few moments but could be heard throughout the arena.
The Husker players were hurt by the Maryland players being yelled at, so much so that Nebraska coach John Cook said some of the Husker players were crying during a timeout early in the match.
During his news conference after the match, Cook said he was disappointed by what had happened Friday evening.
“I just don’t think that’s our fans’ place to say things during a match. It’s putting judgment on the other team, and this is a volleyball match. We’re not here to do that. So I’m a little disappointed that happened. And our players apologized to the Maryland players after the match. There are other ways to express people’s opinions, but not right after ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and introductions.”
So Coach Cook says there is no place for political statements during a volleyball game. Fair enough.
But he sees no problem, apparently, with players kneeling during the national anthem. There were apparently a few fans there who agreed with Mr. Cook that there is no place for political statements during a volleyball game, and they said so. Coach Cook was ‘disappointed’ that they agreed with him. Or something.
This doesn’t make any sense.
The author of the news story didn’t find this dichotomy to be odd. He didn’t ask Mr. Cook to explain why some political speech is apparently welcome at a volleyball game but other political speech is not. How does Mr. Cook determine which speech is acceptable? Why should we care what political speech is acceptable to a volleyball coach, anyway? The article doesn’t say.
In fact, the author is intentionally vague throughout – note the first sentence above: “When the national anthem was sung before the match, a few Maryland players took a knee, which has occurred at other sporting events when student-athletes want to publicly protest something.” Protest something? Protest what, exactly? Isn’t that central to the news story he’s writing here? Does he even know what they’re protesting? If not, why doesn’t he ask them?
And are we to accept that because this type of protest “has occurred at other sporting events” that it is beyond debate? Or perhaps just part of the game, like the anthem itself?
What is he saying here? Or, more precisely, what is he not saying?
Don’t worry your pretty little head about all that. Ignore the niggling details, and just gradually absorb his message: Protesting the American anthem is free speech. And criticism of that speech is called hate speech.
Obviously. After all, this is the thousandth article in the thousandth newspaper that has pointed that out, subtly or not-so-subtly.
This is what we’re up against. Republicans can’t buy this type of publicity. The Democrats get it for free. And it’s absolutely everywhere. This was not a political op-ed in The New York Times. This was a story in the sports section of The Freemont Tribune. You can’t even escape this stuff in a midwestern small-town sports section. In a story about a volleyball game, for Pete’s sake…
And there were thousands of other little examples in little stories in various sections of other little newspapers all over America on this day, and on every other day. It’s so ubiquitous that you don’t even notice it after a while. It’s like the air we breathe.
And eventually, even such ridiculous things as this, which make no sense at all – they eventually become second nature to us.
It’s amazing that Republicans ever win an election anywhere.
Not all Democrat efforts to control elections occur at the ballot box.
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It works pretty well in writing.
So a leftist is a fascist and fascists like to control free speech. Not surprising at all. As long as you can control people.
There are 360 degrees in a circle. That’s why communists and fascists have so much in common.
I have the right to control you so shut up. Communists and Fascists are pretty much the same.
Doesn’t that woke billionaire Buffett live in Nebraska? He probably built it on condition that Nebraska players would kneel during anthem.
The exact quote:
When asked by a reporter from the Arcata Eye in 2002 why he wasn’t speaking at independent bookstores rather than at corporate chains, he exploded in a tirade that revealed his willingness to have his principles—in this case, his distrust of corporate power—take a backseat to his personal vengefulness. “You know in my town the small businesses that everyone wanted to protect? They were the people that supported all the right-wing groups,” he ranted. “They were the Republicans in town, they were in Kiwanis, the Chamber of Commerce—people that kept the town all white. The small hardware salesman, the small clothing store sales persons, Jesse the Barber who signed his name three different times on three different petitions to recall me from the school board. (Very bad word) all these small businesses—(Very bad word) ’em all. Bring in the chains.”
Charming fellow. By which I mean, miserable sack of bile.
Thank you for digging up the exact quote, James. Very much appreciated.
That quote reminds me of Harlan Ellison. In all his essays and columns I don’t think he ever had a kind word for any of America’s service organizations and social clubs; not the Moose and Elks and Lions, not the Boy and Girl Scouts and Boys and Girls Clubs, not the Rotaries and Kiwanis and Optimists. Not Catholic Charities and Salvation Army and the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. (All this in spite of the fact that these organizations brought together people from various classes to socialize and work for the community.) As best I recall from what I read 40 years ago, he seemed to loath them all, just as he despised most Americans. The only specific quote I can recall, however, was when he attempted to insult Spiro Agnew by calling him “the Great Kiwani”. (Someone with a better memory than mine may be able to correct or elaborate on this.)
But Harlan was not alone: the sixties left made a point of smearing and stigmatizing all organizations whose purpose was not to further the left’s revolutionary agenda.
Do you recall Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone, about the decline of American community and civic engagement? He had various ideas about what caused this (and what might be done to reverse it.) But I do not recall that he ever mentioned the left’s propaganda war against civic organizations. Charles Murray’s Coming Apart may have touched on this too.
There is no such thing as “Hate Speech”.
You have Free Speech, or you have tyranny.
Nice shot of Lester Forehead.
People with any connection to academia will say anything to keep their jobs. It is a little surprising, though, that this coach fears for his. I don’t know what the Nebraska women’s volleyball team’s record is – and I’m not looking it up – but on a subject unrelated to it, surely the coach could have said something far more anodyne, or impishly said nothing at all.
All college sports look the same to this Ivy Leaguer, but it’s fun to imagine hyperfine gradations. I am imagining Alabama – its football team – its men’s football team – playing a home game against some directional-school patsy, and some of the players on the latter take that knee. I think the Tuscaloosa crowd would boo them mercilessly. And after the game, Nick Saban is asked about it, and he either comes down squarely on the side of his fanbase, or he keeps his mouth shut.
Or would he?
Surely there are some elsewhere-in-the-SEC boosters who have thought of playing a prank like this. How many $10 bills would it take, anyway? But maybe everywhere in the SEC, indeed all college sports, it is unthinkable. Well, the original topic here was not sports but politics. And in politics, if you have stopping points, you are definitely at a disadvantage.
Protesting for leftist positions is free speech, but protesting against leftist positions (including criticism) is not.
Amazing how this coach fails to see how he’s contradicting himself.
I used to like watching beach volleyball until they ruined the uniforms.
Edit: It seems to a function a function of human nature to hate the near competitor more than the distant opponent. In the case of Marxists, the hate the petit bourgeoisie more than the bourgeoisie.
He’s Volleyball coach.
Not the head of the Philosophy Department.
If he was he would have a nice convoluted explanation of his contradiction.
I don’t understand the confusion. It is a matter of definition:
“Free Speech” means anything a leftist wants to do to prevent someone on the right from saying.
“Hate speech” means any speech that a leftist doesn’t like. See also “racist”.
Simple.
Also, this is the Alinskyite attack. It’s not the action, but the reaction which matters. It’s the difference between a frontal assault and an ambush. The left has the media prepped, and they do something provocative in front of the media. When we counter-provoke, the media ambush springs and whatever intemperate thing or counter-narrative position we advance is reported in shock and horror.
This is why Republicans don’t stand up for themselves. Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford can say whatever they want, but we can’t return their attack because it will look like sexism or racism or something.
George W. Bush understood this.
Donald Trump did not.
Many people preferred Mr. Trump’s view…
They messed around and found out.
Strap on a pair, ladies.
Protesting against leftist position isn’t just “not free speech,” according to the woke it’s literal violence and justifies or even requires to be met with the People’s righteous anger, which no matter what they do isn’t violence violence.
Kneeling isn’t seen as “political speech” but as acknowledgement of a sacred truth.
It’s more or less a sacrament of a religion that has taken over the education and media establishments (and therefore the administrative state, whose functionaries almost all pass through higher education to a greater or lesser extent), and which large corporations feel compelled to profess.
That religion is, said Steven D. Smith in his Pagans and Christians in the City, is a modern version of paganism and is bidding to replace and assimilate Christianity in much the same way as Christianity did with late Roman paganism.
I think that the road to restoring freedom of space each is long and hard. It needs to begin in the schools. Unfortunately, we cannot expect government school to do a good job of it. Today, they are doing to opposite under the guise of teaching respect for the oppressed people (unfortunately, straight out of Marx). I think every school needs to have a significant course, or part of the course teaching the Bill of Rights, with an emphasis on the First Amendment.
Until the schools teach what they should be teaching, indoctrinating children into the rights and responsibilities of our system of government under the United States Constitution, the government schools will continue to produce boneheads that think that uncomfortable speech should be banned or capable of being banned.
Genuflection.
It’s always seemed to me that what the kneeler are saying is “We’re not worthy.” I know they don’t mean that, but I think that.
{My bold insertion.} Fixed it for you. While I once accepted the idea that Trump was clueless about these sorts of things, I changed my mind. I don’t think he was clueless about much at all.
PounimgPouncing Republican, Hidden AgendaMuscles unused will atrophy and speech unused becomes unspeakable.
That would make a great bumper sticker, wouldn’t it? That sums it up in a nutshell.
Why state their view instead of the truth:
The left’s speech is violence. The right’s speech is speech.
Less revealing?
It’s not that atoll.