I'd be curious to hear what the political climate is like at university institutions these days, and particularly from those who've experienced its evolution over the past 20 years.
I'm all for free speech (really, I'm all for it) but are there not limits to what debates a university should encourage and those it should deter?
For example, should a university invite the grand poobah of the KKK in to give a talk on white supremacy? Is there really a worthwhile debate to be had on that point? And even if there is, is it worth the likely costs of having the debate?
What about witchcraft? Or the flat earth theory? Or whether the age of the Earth is 6000 years old? Or what the greatest strengths of Freemen on the Land are? Or the truth of whatever nonsense Trump dreamed about last night and has no proof for?
Students shouldn't be wasting their time debating unreasonable nonsense that's long since been settled in the minds of any half-educated ape with a couple of brain cells to rub together. There are plenty of fun legit contemporary issues they could be spending their time on that will develop their skills and further human progress until such time as we can be replaced with intelligent machines.
Really though, I'd be very interested to hear some examples from any academics of what they're seeing in their classrooms. There have always been liberal minded people on university campuses, and there have always been conservative minded people on university campuses. And there have always been a handful of crazy people on university campuses. But I'm not sure there's ever been a time where any sizable group has so deliberately lied, manufactured, obfuscated, and denied evidence as we are seeing today. I've no idea how much of this has bled through into university classrooms, but if it's more than the usual handful of nutbars, it's going to be a problem. And as we're seeing every day in the US, it's not a problem that can be dispelled with reasonable discussion. You pretty much just have to boot the buggers out.
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