Readers know me as a major free-speech advocate who believes that people should be able to say what they want even if what they're saying is extremely ignorant, hateful, or ridiculous. It's my honest opinion that it's better to see these arguments, who is making them, and address stupidity directly in the public square. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and hiding filth away in the shadows only causes it to grow.
This includes people who want to spout off sexist, bigoted, racist/anti-semitic speech.
To be clear, I draw a line at violent rhetoric that encourages or plans violence against one group or another. That's where we depart from ideas and start talking about actions that could have dire consequences.
This is why when I saw Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending in DPS to deal with the "pro-Palestinian" movement on the University of Texas campus, I applauded while some of my peers clutched their pearls and called it a direct violation of free speech.
It's not.
Firstly, let's get something very straight. These people aren't "pro-Palestine," they're pro-Hamas. If they were for Palestine, they would cheer Israel's destruction of Hamas, the terrorist group that has effectively brainwashed and enslaved the people of Gaza to its will for the goal of the destruction of Israel. They want actual genocide, and they're willing to sacrifice every single person in the Gaza Strip to get it done.
All Hamas has to do is surrender and the destruction stops, but they won't and so Israel can't stop. Stopping means giving the actual genocidal group a chance to rebuild, recruit, and grow its strength again, resulting in more death and destruction.
(READ: War Is Hell...So Don't Start One)
But here in the States, useful idiots are ready to believe that Israel is the bad guy and the poor Palestinian people are just victims of a genocidal regime...that allows Muslims to live and worship peacefully within its borders. As Bonchie covered in his article about the events in Texas on Wednesday, there was more going on there than just chants about stopping "genocide" and wanting to "save Palestine":
Protest is not illegal. Illegally "occupying" areas despite dispersal orders, setting up encampments, and preventing others from passing is. There will be a lot of crying about what Texas did here, but they owe it to their residents to keep everyone safe and not allow privileged, entitled brats to dictate the terms in violation of the law.
Bonchie makes the excellent point that Texas is making it clear that what the left can get away with in blue states isn't happening in this blood-red one. You will not set up encampments like an army where you forbid others from traversing in, out, or nearby. You will not physically intimidate or bully others based on their race or opinions.
You're a student at a University in the most advanced and richest first-world country in the world. You're not a freedom fighter. You're a self-important, spoiled rich kid. You're no different from that kid we all knew from white upper-class suburbia talking and dressing like he's from the mean streets of Chicago.
Using force on these students isn't just necessary, it's right. These are students purposefully creating a powder keg that could lead to serious violence. We've already watched as Columbia's students harassed a Jewish student. There's not much territory left to cover before there's real violence. We've seen similar patterns with these things before.
The correct response is for elected officials to declare that free speech is great, but we will have law and order. We will not have needless violence against innocents or encampments that believe they're independent countries with their own government bodies.
You're in Texas, baby.
Some people believe this will only cause the movement to grow. I'm not so sure, but if it does, then more steps can be taken to make sure these students understand we're not playing around. Expulsions should occur and if they don't, the state can begin reducing funding. Campaigns can begin encouraging former alumni to stop donating until the lunacy stops.
And the lunacy will stop. People have to be willing to bare their teeth, and this is one of those moments. This isn't free speech. This is the birthing pains of real, consequential violence.