A significant number of our students are literally under attack. And free-speech warriors who've made this out to be merely "contrarian ideas" or "unpopular viewpoints" share the blame. It's not some abstract philosophical exercise. It's real-world hate w/ real world consequences
People's humanity, their basic human rights, their right to exist--these are not up for debate. People who tell you that we need to "listen to all ideas, no matter how loathsome" are people who never have to worry about the consequences of those ideas.
There are many reasons white supremacists are finding campuses fertile recruiting grounds. But mushy liberal enablers whose false equivalencies place Nazism in the same arena as legitimate academic discourse shoulder much of the blame. They've mainstreamed hate.
What the Klan, neo Nazis and other white supremacists couldn't do for decades--successfully recruit on campus--is now a key part of their strategy. And it's because of cowardly both-sidesism that rejects the very type of critical thinking universities are supposed to embody.
And all this done over the protests and warnings from students of color, international students, lgbtqia students, etc. Because apparently *their* free speech rights don't count as much as the white supremacists who must be given a platform, apparently. Good job, academe.
