Texas Tales: Speech Police in Austin, Welfare Creep in Laredo
Outsiders tend to think of Texas as the bastion of red-state principles, and for the most part that’s an accurate view. Outside the big cities, of which we have five or six depending on where you draw the line, libertarian-friendly economic attitudes and socially conservative beliefs mix, thrive, and drive the state. That kind of thinking is alive in the cities too, though not dominant. But though the Democrats here have taken beating after beating over the past decade or so and are at their point of greatest weakness in memory, pockets of liberal resistance to common sense remain. Occasionally, it’s worth taking a look at those pockets just to see what they’re up to and what they want for the rest of us.
In Austin, the blue dot in the midst of a red sea, the University of Texas is home to the storied Longhorns, serious research, an increasingly insane tuition bill for a “public” university that was created to be free of charge (wonder if the recently uncovered faculty bloat has anything to do with the tuition hikes), and — like just about every other university in America — attempts to impose speech codes on conservatives. To wit, the UT College Republicans recently hosted a speech by Michelle Malkin. The usual liberal tolerance for the ideas of others ensued, prompting a silly editorial in the campus paper, the Daily Texan, calling on the College Republicans to apologize for daring to host Malkin:
Despite the fact that the midterm elections were not kind to Democrats nationally, Austin voters continued to show their support for liberal candidates. More than 69,000 of Travis County voters punched a straight-ticket ballot for Democrats. Defeated gubernatorial candidate Bill White, who received less than 43 percent of the total vote, garnered more than 59 percent of the vote here in Travis County. And in 30 total elections that pitted a Democrat against a Republican, Travis County voters preferred the Democrat 27 times.
AdvertisementIt’s safe to assume that, were the data available, we’d find the vote amongst Texas students even more one-sided. On campus, liberal opinion dominates the dialogue with separate protests waged in the past two weeks in the form of a hunger strike in support of the DREAM Act and a walkout to fight budget cuts to ethnic studies. Your peers, it appears, don’t agree with you. Which is exactly why, College Republicans at Texas, you shouldn’t have invited Michelle Malkin to speak on campus this past week.
In other words, you have to agree with us liberals before you’re allowed to speak on campus. So much for dialogue. That’s about the most ill-liberal attitude the youngster could have taken. That he sees no irony or danger to his own right of free speech in his position is a bit shocking: by his own logic, he should not be allowed to speak pretty much anywhere in Texas outside Austin, without winning some sort of popularity contest first.
Rather than pick on a college student myself, I’ll let another UT student do it. Here’s Austen Bailey, writing in the New Texas Forum, for the win:
The idea that a person should not be allowed to publicly share his beliefs because someone might disagree is un-American and utterly ridiculous. The very people who claim to promote equality and free speech demand censure for the presentation of an alternative opinion.
Indeed. It’s called “freedom of expression,” which was once a liberal value. It is not, and never has been, a “progressive” value.
“Liberals” — social-welfare fascists, really — are as stridently opposed to free speech and honest elections as any dictator. It’s about the Marcusian “repressive tolerance” notion, which is itself derived from Marxian theses about “false consciousness,” which is itself derived from Rousseau’s fantasy about the “general will.” They’re convinced they know what we really want and need, so these foolish little instruments of dissent are irrelevant and irritating, and must be either suppressed or manipulated into agreeing with them.
Well, at least they no longer call themselves “liberal” with any degree of comfort or self-assurance.
Well put, Francis. Nice trace to the roots of political correctness lunacy.
BTW, Always pause to read wherever you post comment. Reliably thoughtful.
Forgetting the name for a minute, we Oklahomans do follow your lead Bryan. In cases like this, we might even lead the Texans, because we have no blue dots.
“In other words, you have to agree with us liberals before you’re allowed to speak on campus.”
So, what’s your point? This has been going on in college campuses for years now. Try letting an Army or Navy recruiter make a speech at a campus. Given the way students react these days, you would think the Taliban was making a speech. But I’m sure the local chapter leader of the Communist Party would have absolutely no problem speaking at the Austin campus. He would probably not only be invited to speak, but most of the teaches would show up there as well.
Hard to believe that, at one time, there were more ROTC students attending Columbia University than the total number of students attending the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Times have changed, and NOT for the better.
I was attending UT during the mid-70s when the Iranian hostage crisis was in full swing. Iranian students fought their way into jail by continuously interupting Israel’s Began at a Speakers’ Series event for which people had paid.
After several unheeded warnings from police to sit down, these determined-to-create a crisis pseudo-students were arrested, charged, and set to be released on personal recognizance, which they refused. Sympathetic countrymen went on an on-campus hunger strike (allegedly) and demonstrated vociferously for many days. You can imagine how the one-sided Daily Texan covered this.
Myself and a fellow timid female student got worked up and one day attended a demonstration at lunch; we proceeded to eat our lunches in front of them. We were spat upon, yelled at, shoved, and accused of being the ones attempting to get on the news.
The next day the Daily Texan printed a picture of the very young man who spat upon me. The American flag flew beautifully in the background as he gazed dreamily off into the distance in an obviously posed photo op.
Day after day, the Daily Texan only printed inflammatory, irrational, laughable anti-Iranian-hostage-crisis letters to the editor. I was a journalism major who slaved for days over a well-worded, rational, calm, factual anti-Iranian letter. Which was never published. I made an appt. with the editor, who told me my letter was too radical to publish.
There you have it. Intolerance and silencing of differing views from the liberal press even back then. Some people are more equal than others.
We need to put a few of these up…
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss162/RustyBill/humor/Austin_Liberal_Park.jpg
Small nit: how about fixing the spelling before you start putting those posters up all over the place? The word “it’s” in “See the endangered Liberal in it’s natural habitat” should be “its”.
Oops… Fixed. Sorry about that.
Progressives prove the wisdom of Pogo, who said as long ago as 1971, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
CORRECTION: I intended Menachem Begin (not Began as I printed above), the Israeli Prime Minister elected in 1977. First cup of coffee this a.m.
Let’s face if folks, the “liberals” are really totalitarians. While they proclaim they are open minded, time and time again, they try to shut down or shut out other opinions, especially conservative ones.
It is really disgusting that this goes on in and around college campuses. It started with the 60′s radicals which were aided and abetted by the Communists and haven’t let up; only intensified.
ALL of you that think they are ANYTHING but COMMUNISTS have got to get your heads on straight, there is NO other word for the liberals but COMMUNISM and they are getting bolder and more forceful EVERYDAY..sad sad for this country we call home and was once the greatest on the face of the earth but the all knowing libs that think we are beyond to stupid to know how and what to do are killing us, and do not take that as a jest because I am dead serious!!!
The United States Constitution has become a suicide pact because it has come to be interpreted that America is in fact the Global States of America and that diversity must be ordained for the European Americans that built a wonderful but utterly racist country on the backs of conquered and enslaved peoples.
All people are created equal but some have more cell phones than others and this inequality must be redressed along with 1 million other redesigns of America. I like pink drapes and maybe a nice 3 season porch.
We have run out of other people’s money. The entire concept of taxing the productive to subsidize the dependent ends when the productive stop producing. It doesn’t end easily or quietly. It usually doesn’t end well for the demagogues, who are, surprise, members of the rich class they demonize. If you know enough to plant a garden, you might survive. If your skill set is waiting for a check to arrive in the mail, you might not do so well.
That degree in grievance studies merely ensures that I will never hire you. I bet some people think that is unfair. Too bad. I am accountable for getting work done, not for cosmic justice.
We’d be better off with half as much each from three times as many rich people, but that doesn’t fit the narrative.
“It usually doesn’t end well for the demagogues, who are, surprise, members of the rich class they demonize.”
Hear hear. I think the hypocritical rich demagogues (Pelosi, Reid, the entire Ship of Fools in Congress) must have Charlie Rangel for their tax advisor.
You might remember the old saying that goes “The Devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.”
The “Progressive Left” has pulled off this same trick in the areas of free speech and fredom of thought. They have sold most of society on the proposition that “progressives” are the champions of free speech and the free exchange of ideas. The reality is that the Left (particularly on college campuses) is dogmatically totalitarian when it ccomes to speech other than their own and will frequently resort to fair means and foul to silence those of opposing views. Conservatives who speak on college campuses are frequently targeted for the most asinine and juvenile “protests” aimed at silencing what they have to say. (Michelle Malkin is well-versed in this.) These antics are reported with slavish approval in the media. (To paraphrase Speaker Pelosi, “these are what protestors are supposed to look like.”) If a conservative group puts up a simple banner protesting a speech by some whack-job ‘Progressive” the press treats them like they just beat up Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Part of the viceral hatred engendered by FOX News, conservative blogs and people like Sarah Palin is caused by the fact that they are not standing still for this and forcefully shinging bright lights on the Left’s bottomless hypocricy.
Good on ‘ya Mate.
“It usually doesn’t end well for the demagogues, who are, surprise, members of the rich class they demonize.”
Hear hear. I think the hypocritical demagogues (Pelosi, Reid, all members of the Ship of Fools in Congress) must have Charlie Rangel for their tax advisor.
Please help us outsiders: in the rest of the world, the “reds” are the commies & liberals. But in Texas, they are “blue”? How did the colors become reversed? It makes these articles really difficult to understand!
The red-blue state thing is based on how the US media color-codes electoral maps during election coverage. They used to flip the red and blue every other election cycle, but for whatever reason, the colors stuck after the 2000 election, rendering the Republican states red, the Democrat states blue. So Texas is a “red state,” even though we despise Commies in every form.
Maybe it’s time that the media chose new colours or patterns (stripes or dots anyone?) to represent the two main parties. I’ve lived beside the United States all my life – I’m Canadian – and seen plenty of US political news but even I had a struggle figuring out this red state/blue state stuff. I had the same issue: I thought of red as representing the left and yet was hearing about conservative states that were red, which was very confusing.
I’ve always felt that the media assigned “red” to conservatives for two reasons:
1) It signifies “caution” or “danger” and
2) It is a contraction of “redneck”…
Which is about how most media types feel about Republicans, anyway.
I wonder how many of these “free” cell phones will end up in the hands of illegals (I’m thinking specifically of cartel members). Are the taxpayers up for that?
I also wonder what will happen when those getting the free cell phones exceed their 250 minute per month limit. Will the phone cease to function (hardly) and if not, who will pay the overage fees?
You know the answer to that–we will. And we should be damned glad we’re so rich we can do it, right??
Bottomless hypocricy is precisely right. I’ve had experience with these people, both as a student and later as the father of a college student who had an English composition paper severely downgraded because the professor disagreed with the opinion she expressed in what was supposed to be an opinion piece. As an English composition, it was well-done. No misspellings, no grammatical errors, well-reasoned and lucid.
In a liberal’s world, what’s that got to do with the price of eggs in China? As the journalism major with a 4.0 average that I mentioned myself as in my earlier email, I was severely down-graded for the 1st time in my life by a hyper-liberal teacher who coincidentally was having an affair with a very cute co-ed who couldn’t speak clearly but was actually the only student to receive an A in the class.
And while attention is diverted to UT’s usual illiberal liberals and to Hispanic Democrats who want the Rio Grande Valley to become 99% dependent upon welfare and continue to re-elect them – both of which are old news, ya know? – the legislature has a bill before it to institute an income tax. “Oh, it’s only 3% for those above $100K per year and 6% for those above $250K.” Yeah, and look at the original Federal income tax: same deal: “We’re only gonna tax the rich.” No income tax in Texas!! Damned RINO’s and moderate Republicans are just the ones who turned their coats from the Dems to the GOP when enough voters figured out their scams. Conservatives? Sure, and I’m the Head Rabbi of Jerusalem.
No, Hispanic Dems want the Rio Grande Valley to be returned to its “rightful owner”–Mexico.
The only problem with Texas is that it has so much influence on the textbooks read elsewhere in the country. And they can’t even read in Texas.
Your Sensei;
I don’t know from where you obtained the impression that Texans can’t read. I read very well, thank you very much. I’m a Native Texan who served some 20 years USN. Before you start bashing Texans, perhaps you ought to look at the literacy rates in the larger cities throughout the U.S.
A funny idea of how free expression works.
- One side asks somebody to speak on campus, which they do, unimpeded – that’s ok.
- Somebody else writes an opinion piece saying that they disagreed with that decision and asking the first to apologise for their approach – that’s NOT ok.
See any inconsistency?
You have an interesting use of the word “editorial”. In the US, I understand that can be used as a synonym for any opinion article. Over my way, an editorial is something written and approved by the editorial staff of a newspaper, and representing an official position of that newspaper. That was most definitely not the article by Brandon Curl. That was just an opinion. And you’ll notice that the daily texan published a RESPONSE to that opinion:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/firing-line-look-mirror
So where’s the suppression?
And you’re right – it’s called debate. And I don’t see anyone trying to prevent it. What curl was asking the campus republicans to apologise for was the presentation and promotion of an event which he considered was divisive and hyperbolic and added nothing to the serious debate. You can disagree with him, but I don’t think he’s demanding that anyone win a “popularity contest” before they have a right to speak. But he does reservet the right to disagree with them. See how this works?
Asking somebody to apologise for something is not the same as trying to suppress them. Is it wrong to ask code pink to apologise for their nut-baggery? How about fred phelps – is asking him and his freaks to apologise for their obnoxious behavior the same as trying to suppress free speech? Is asking anyone to apologise for anything outlawed by your notion of free expression?
As for virgin mobile being willing to take their (capped) 10$/month Lifeline Assistance subsidy and turn it into a free phone service – well, good for them. If you don’t like it, take it up with richard branson. Mobile phones just aren’t that expensive any more, but I’ll wager that the company is taking something of a hit by doing it.
If you look at an electoral map of Texas Austin is not the only blue area. There is also the blue line, which runs along the border with Mexico. You know, the areas that (1) have an extremely high rates of welfare dependency and (2) have a population that mainly consists of illegal immigrants and anchor babies (whether adults or not). There is a connection between the two.
Fifty years ago many university towns were genuinely conservative. At some point in the 1960s students were permitted to vote as residents of the county in which they attended school. Now whether you visit Austin, Texas (UT)or Bloomington, Indiana (IU)you find a socialist enclave that drives the politics of that city and county.
Growing up in Texas, the majority of people here were conservative, even IF they were Democrats they were still somewhat conservative. Today’s Liberals are nothing but bold faced usurpers who want to control everybody’s speech and even their lives. This is not limited to Texas. Take Democratic Underground, an internet forum for “Liberals”. Try advancing a Conservative idea there. Per their terms of use, you might very well be banned. And don’t EVEN THINK about berating a “Liberal” politician. Today’s “Liberals” are NOT. They are Progressives, who are “progressing” us towards Socialism or even Communism. They do NOT like independent thinking. I fear for our country’s future, which I have dedicated a good portion of my life protecting.