On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 11:57 AM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 11:13 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>
>> 1. That's not what I mean by saying that it's not the whole story. I mean
>> that the students might be raising and giving life to legitimate issues,
>> even if their demand that the instructor be fired is unjust.
>>
>
>
> Maybe, but the way they are going about it is very problematic.
>
>
>
>
>
>> 2. How can you say that it's a free speech issue, and yet say that it
>> wouldn't be a free speech issue if the person were a Nazi or a white
>> supremacist? Either it's a First Amendment issue or it isn't, either it's a
>> free speech issue or it isn't, either it's an issue of academic freedom or
>> it isn't. If it is, then it doesn't matter what the political content is,
>> right? If you wouldn't defend her if she were a Nazi or an open KKK
>> admirer, then it's a slam dunk that what the students are doing is fair
>> game.
>>
>
>
> It all comes back to drawing lines, doesn't it? You don't shout "Fire!" in
> a crowded concert hall, and you don't spout racist propaganda in a
> classroom without consequences. And yes, you do have to make intelligent,
> subjective, case-by-case judgments about what constitutes "racist
> propaganda". So what?
>

So, the students are making a different subjective, case-by-case judgment
than you are.

If you're not standing on principle, but only on your individual subjective
judgment, why should anyone be overly concerned about your individual
outrage?


>  I thought it was only intellectually lazy libertarians who resort to
> simplistic and absolute rules without making allowance for specifics of a
> situation and historical context..
>

> -raghu.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 11:04 AM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 9:45 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:
>>
>>> I agree 100% that teachers shouldn't be fired for expressing their views
>>> in class, even if they're racists, even if they're KKK, even if they're
>>> Nazis. First Amendment, academic freedom, until death.
>>>
>>
>> Actually, I wouldn't go that far at all. If this instructor at Kansas was
>> out there spouting white-supremacist theories or something like that, I'd
>> totally understand students demanding that she be disciplined or terminated.
>>
>> This is not about some abstract "free speech" principle; rather the
>> merits of the case simply don't support calls for this instructor's
>> termination.
>>
>>
>>
>> But: I think it's important to recognize that that might not be the
>>> entire story.
>>>
>>
>> That's completely irrelevant. This instructor may very well be an awful
>> person, guilty of all kinds of misconduct and may very well deserve to be
>> fired. If so, let's see that case being made and we can have that
>> discussion.
>>
>> Right now the issue is a different one: should this instructor be fired
>> for the reasons these students want her to be fired? I think the answer to
>> that is clearly no. And the students behavior in this case is extremely
>> problematic.
>> -raghu.
>>
>>
>>
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