Arun Smith's Final Assignment: Free Speech is Liberating

Arun Smith has been at Carleton University for seven years. He says that it is because he has worked full time for the first 6 years to support his studies without taking loans. I'll take that claim at face value. I admire perseverance through difficulties.

Obviously, he is a dedicated student. However it appears as though he's gotten himself into a little bit of trouble with his tearing-down-the-wall stunt.

He doesn't appear bothered that the university might decide to punish him. He believes that it any punishment, "no matter how unjust," is worth standing up for his beliefs. I respect that. I just don't respect his beliefs. I also don't respect destruction of property, but as a Marxist, Arun probably doesn't believe in property.

Well, in the unlikely event that Arun finds himself expelled or has any other trouble gaining his human rights degree (could he really face year 8 if required?), I am making an offer to help him.

 

Since he's obviously desires a degree, I will offer him a degree from The Culdesac University.  All that he has to do is write one essay. I will publish it here, reserving the right to critique and respond.

 

The essay must be titled Free Speech is Liberating. It must cover the role that freedom of speech has played in liberating marginalized groups and people throughout history and explain why this tool of freedom is or is not still necessary today in the industrialized world where suffrage has been granted universally across the population.

 

If he receives a passing grade, he will be granted a certificate granting him all of the rights and responsibilities due to the holder of a degree in Political Freedom Study from The Culdesac University.

 

If Arun is not up to writing this essay, I will grant a Junior Associate Certificate in Political Shutzpa if he writes out the words Free Speech is Liberating 2000 times and hands it in. I think that work will probably have more content than any essay he wrote in his studies at Carleton.

 

 

Disclaimer: This is satire. I do not run a university or school of any kind. I have no qualifications as an examiner and no authority by the government of Ontario or Canada to grant a degree of education. Any endorsement granted by The Cul-De-Sac Hero will have no weight at any accredited institution in Canada or any other benefits.  But, I will make a neat looking, certificate that says that he has completed my course.

 

 

Two Thoughts on Censorship and Activism

Manwomanmyth has a real world experience with a poster that belittles men and boys in a school setting. He has some thoughtful insights about what it means to take offence and censor words.

Arun Smith tears down a Free Speech wall at Carleton University, because it might have something hateful if left long enough.  He believes that he has the right to decide which opinions are valid.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/01/20130123-174253.html

 I think that the most ridiculous portion of his Facebook statement about his action is this:

In organizing the “free speech wall,” the Students for Liberty have forgotten that liberty requires liberation, and this liberation is prevented by providing space for either more platitudes, or for the expression of hate.

What purpose does free speech serve more important than liberation? Is anything more liberating than free speech?

Arun and others like him currently enjoy the fruits of freedom of speech that we have enjoyed in our history but now they want to cut it off. Neo-fascist identity politics idealogues are a dangerous threat to freedom of all kinds, especially when they call Free Speech a "buzzword". Want some buzzwords? How about triggering, inclusion, invalidation or marginalized communities?

RAPE CULTURE - I DON'T GET IT

I love it when someone tries to argue that they are right because the other person just doesn't get it. Never stop to consider that maybe your argument is flawed. Just accuse the other person of not getting your argument and move on.

Maybe your argument is ungettable.

Let's look at what our famous young art student has been up to defending her "Nice Guys Rape" poster.

http://feministartdegree.tumblr.com/post/39442800441/trigger-warning-rape-rape-culture

Someone called Loaded For Bear posted a fair rebuttal. He basically says that, once someone commits rape, they prove that they are not a nice person. The rapist was only pretending to be nice in the first place.

This makes sense to me, but of course, I just don't get it.

Feminist Art Degree sets me straight (in caps, so  I know she's serious).

BY TELLING ME HOW TO DEFINE MY ASSAULTER YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN RAPE CULTURE.

Hmm... Nobody told you how to define your assaulter. They simply defined your assaulter. Assaulters aren't nice people. You can believe whatever you want to about the person.

BY TELLING ME TO DEFINE MY ASSAULTER AS SOLELY “A MONSTER” YOU ARE TAKING AWAY MY RIGHT TO DEFINE THEM AS I SO PLEASE.

Again, believe what you want to believe. Reality is separate.

BY TELLING ME TO DEFINE MY ASSAULTER AS SOLELY “A MONSTER” YOU ARE TAKING AWAY MY RIGHT TO MY OWN ASSAULT NARRATIVE, WHICH I ALONE LIVED.

That narrative in your head is your own business. Again, narrate away. The truth exists independant of narrative.

BY TELLING ME ONLY MONSTERS RAPE YOU ARE NEGATING THE INFINITE ASSAULT STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE RAPED BY NICE PEOPLE.

Negating? I'm not sure that's the word. Infinite assault stories? Wow, does that mean the stories are infinitely long or that there is an infinite supply? Human existence is finite, so... stories of any kind are kind of finite.
Let's offer some creative criticism here. Let's say that nice people don't rape, but, many people have been raped by nasty people pretending to be nice.

BY TELLING ME ONLY MONSTERS RAPE YOU ARE PERPETUATING RAPE CULTURE’S IDEA OF THE “IDEAL RAPE”; THAT ONLY CERTAIN ASSAULTS COUNT BY BEING DEFINED WITHIN NARROW PARAMETERS; THAT IF YOU “DIDN’T FIGHT BACK/WERE DRUNK/WERE BOUGHT DINNER/THEY WERE NICE”/ETC, IT WASN’T REALLY RAPE.

By telling me that only certain assaults count, you are being asked to define rape. Rape has a definition. For a general definition, see Wikipedia: Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent.

BY TELLING ME NICE GUYS DON’T RAPE- “WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING”- YOU ARE LETTING SAID NICE PEOPLE WHO DO RAPE OFF THE HOOK.

No, you are denying me the right to define nice guys as people who do not do things that are not nice. Pretending to be nice in order to get into a position where one can commit rape is not only a crime against the victim, it is an offence against nice guys. The deception is just another part of the overall malevolent nature of the person.

BY TELLING ME NICE GUYS DON’T RAPE- “WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING”- YOU ARE CONTINUING TO PERPETUATE RAPE CULTURE’S IDEAL RAPE NARRATIVE AND IGNORING ALL THE ACTUAL, REAL, LEGITIMATE RAPES THAT OCCUR OUTSIDE OF THOSE DEFINITIONS.
D O
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F U C K I N G
U N D E R S T A N D

 No, I don't understand. Rape Culture is a myth. I might as well say, by not clapping your hands behind your back three times before speaking you are perpetuating the evil reign of the Invisible Monkey Brain.  In order to understand, I'd have to believe in it. You are trying to control the narrative.

Say I have a friend named Barry.  Now I think that Barry is a nice guy. But, when I invite him into my house, he waits until I'm comfortable and then punches me in the face, knocks me unconscious and steals my belongings. "Well," I say, "he's really a nice guy." If you try to tell me that Barry is really an asshole pretending to be a nice guy is that defining my narrative? Is it participating in a theft and assault culture? No, it's telling it like it is. Barry was never a nice guy.

If, on the other hand, Barry and I participate in Mixed Martial Arts and he knocks me unconscious, it is entirely possible that he is a nice guy. Even if, one time, I tried to tap out and he didn't see it and knocked me silly. It was a mistake, and nice guys do make them.

So, I can say that someone punched me in the face and is still a nice guy, but, I can't say that someone assaulted me and is still a nice guy. There is a big difference. Assault is a crime and it is intentional and involuntary on the part of the victim.

Rape is a crime. It is not allowed or enabled in any culture in which I participate. I find rape repulsive and I also find it repulsive for someone to include anyone who commits rape in the category of nice people.

I refuse to "get" any statement that makes such a claim.