Free Speech or Hate Speeech?

Guest post:

My stomach churned today, as I read the comments of Maria Cole in an article tucked into the inside of the Independent Record entitled “Journalism school rejects conservative Cole lecturer.” First, while the title of the article is true, it is also misleading. The Dean of the School Of Journalism at the University of Montana, Larry Abramson, declined to sponsor Mike Adams from the University of North Carolina – Wilmington, because of his hostile, offensive remarks about some classes of people, including LGBT people and feminists. Abramson did not reject Adams because he is conservative.

Cole accuses Abramson of chilling free speech. She claims she chose Adams for her Jeff Cole Distinguished Lecture series in order to “spark civil discourse,” and asks rhetorically, why would she bring a “hatemonger” to campus. First, Adams routinely makes inflammatory remarks about women, transgender people and “LGBTQIA” people, by referring to them as “mentally ill,” the “A” having “something to do with the buttocks,” and women “reclaiming the “c-word.” This cannot be characterized as “civil discourse” under anybody’s definition of the term.

Second, Cole’s rhetorical question is worth asking: Why would she bring a hatemonger to campus? And, perhaps more importantly, why would the School of Journalism sponsor it? Lauding Adam’s comments about other classes of people as “free speech” is an insult to the first amendment, the purpose of which is to allow for dissidence, and indeed encourage civil discourse. Adam’s manner of speaking simply does not comport with this purpose, as it seeks to dehumanize and marginalize people simply because of who they are. This is hate speech.

As George W. Bush said yesterday, it is the kind of speech that can be characterized as “discourse degraded by casual cruelty.” Adam’s comments deny “the image of God we should see in each other.” As the former president said, it “is blasphemy against the American creed.”

And, Cole calls Adams a “strong Christian.” The word, “Christian” is not a noun. It is an adjective. As author, Dr. Benjamin L. Corey writes, the term, “Christian” “is used to describe people who actively did what Jesus said to do. Essentially, the word meant ‘little Christs.’” I was raised to believe that I should be “Christ like.” Referring to transgender people as “mentally ill” is not Christ like. In fact, Jesus did not refer to transgender people as mentally ill. While there are many different versions of the Bible, basically, Jesus said if you can accept being transgender, you should accept it. Matthew 19:12 NIV. People may quibble about biblical interpretation, however, the inescapable truth is that, given the opportunity, Jesus did not judge or condemn transgender people. If Jesus did not judge or condemn transgender people, why is it alright for any “Christ like” people to judge or condemn them? It is certainly not acceptable for a “strong Christian” to do so.

It is high time we as a society draw a sharp distinction between free speech and hate speech. Not that we could, or should outlaw hate speech, but our publicly funded institutions sure as heaven should not sponsor it.

Roberta Zenker
#istandforyou

Predators

Oct11 by D Gregory Smith

I am filled with frustration, anger, sadness and pain with the rash of gay teen suicides, the hate speech being spewed by religious leaders, the hate institutionalized by organizations, the violence directed toward peaceful people, the silence by those who should know better and by my own limited ability to do anything about it.

But my frustration has led me to an important insight.

I have come to realize that the hate that leads children to take their own lives is no worse than the pedophilia crisis which shakes the Catholic Church. When a pedophile seduces a child, it is painful and disgusting because of the innocence lost which can never be regained, because of the trust between adults and children in their care which has been corrupted and transformed into the delusional, self-serving predatory destruction of a young soul. It leads many of these children down the path to self-destruction- either by suicide, attempted suicide, drug and alcohol addiction or crippling depression. We are right to be outraged.

It is a violation of innocence, of the right to exist, of the right to trust, of the right to love. It is predatory. We call them predators, because, like wild animals, they stalk, they hunt, they consume, they destroy.

And those who preach hate against gays are no different.

I have talked to kids who are terrified because they have feelings which conflict with the “normal” view of the society/community/church/family in which they live. They are not scared because “they know it’s wrong”, they are scared because an adult, perhaps someone close to them or in authority over them has told them that these feelings are wrong. That having those feelings makes them bad. They use words like “sinful”, “disordered”, “unnatural”, “disgusting”, “freak” and on and on…. They are not concerned for the well-being of the children in their care- they are driving them in shame to their deaths.

It’s time to call them what they are. They are predators. They are killing our children. They are destroying our families.

They will not win.