This story is becoming too familiar. The extent to which our freedom of speech is being limited today is frightening. It's clear to me that universities are no longer a place for intellectuals and free-thinkers to question the rationality of society. People are being fired for writing emotional tweets. Are we that sensitive, scared, and close-minded? Is this sustainable?
Society has always had their stupid taboos. People were being arrested for saying "fuck" and obscenity laws are a clear rationalization of Common Law norms in naked defiance of the plain text of the first ammendment.
It isn't a legal issue now so much as a social issue. Even if there were strong employment protection laws enforcibility would make it difficult to prove.
Such stupidity is unfortunately sustainable even though it is far from wise. Unfortunately good management and sense is often fragile despite being ideal.
Are you being sarcastic? The "very vocal minority" has seemingly limitless power to ruin people's lives over words they don't like. Businesses are forced to close, professors are forced to resign. We're passed the point of being able to say "it's just the internet," and it's time we all acknowledged that.
The four highest officials in Virginia just brazened out being in blackface, Steve King still has a job, and the president is... well I won’t go into it. I think you might need to recalibrate your sense of these things.
It's interesting that you only mentioned politicians and not any of the businesses or professors who have been ruined, like I said in my comment. When an internet mob comes for a politician, a political mob fights back. Most people don't have that luxury.
Our freedom of speech is limited in the sense that its expression carries a greater risk. If people are apprehensive about sharing a frank opinion, if the risk is losing a career or family, the corollary is fewer opinions being shared and a smaller social discourse.
Yes, there is still a First Amendment and its protections are still quite robust.
But the same culture of freedom of speech that "we've always had?" Decidedly not. And without that culture, the First Amendment will wither and become eviscerated over time.
Society was never rational. I like to think Universities are a place to explore ideas that improve society and connect like-minded human beings. They exist to enhance our understanding of ... everything, including society :)
Yeah... the ideal purpose of universities and the way they have grown almost tumor like administrative arms, which seem to only take resources and not advance anything meaningful is sad.
