I’m sorry, but I have to comment on this article. I can’t just let it go, given the atmosphere we’re currently living in.
The giveaway is their contributors, a collection of far-right figures who largely publish inflammatory articles or click-bait twitter posts for attention. Shepherd, for example, is only famous for showing a transphobic video to a class
and then raising a ruckus about “free speech” when her supervisors took her to task for it. Kay voices a decidedly colonialist perspective about Indigenous people and culture on a regular basis, and it’s not at all an accident that Jon Kay, her son, was/is
a speaker at this event.
This particular article’s headline is deeply biased framing to say the least—the word “violence” implies physical attack, not pulling fire alarms—and there is a long history of events such as this getting cancelled at the last minute
because of such “threats” when no such threats actually exist. Instead, the creators of the events schedule them so that they can cancel them, thus casting themselves as victims of left-wing “silencing” just because they wanted to exercise their “free speech”
(e.g., Milo Yiannopoulos). This defence is designed to avoid having to describe the actual
content of their speech, which usually just supplies justifications for systemic prejudices.
This whole thing is merely another example the right-wing-agitator playbook: weaponizing free-speech to claim victim status in order to victimize the marginalized. It’s predictable and boring. Let’s not fall for it.
– Orion (Dr. Kidder)
English 114w, Surrey Centre (Tue, 2:30 - 4:30)
“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.” – George Orwell, 1946
SFU is located on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
On November 1, 2019 at 9:41:43 AM, James Fleming (james_fleming@sfu.ca) wrote: