<p>I suppose that I’ll jump into the “Taliban guy” argument as well.</p>
<p>What is more ‘un-American’ (of course, this itself is a loaded term) - admitting an official of a brutally oppressive regime to an institution of higher learning, OR silencing his views. </p>
<p>I ask this rhetorically, of course, because the trend as-of-late has been to silence dissent among people - Americans and non-Americans alike. You don’t need to agree with what other people stand for. And they don’t have to agree with you. Frankly, when this sort of argument is raised, it lowers one’s credibility because it simply makes them seem ignorant, in my eyes. So what if you don’t like him. Don’t listen. Isn’t one of the great things about America that we <em>used to</em> have freedom of speech? And how we equate ourselves to the Taliban and to the regime of Saddam Hussein, and say that we are better than them? Yet all the Bush administration and fellow conservatives have tried to do is quash dissent, strip us of free speech, and press their feeble-minded agenda. I honestly fear for the future of this nation, because of people like you. In the federalist papers, a concept called “tyranny of the majority” was widely discussed, and gave rise to the American tradition of “majority rule with minority rights,” to ensure that competing and unpopular views would always be heard. In recent years the silencing of dissent has become more institutionalized and systematic. By those standards, the terrorists ARE winning. We are changing our ideals. And worse yet, we are becoming more like them. Freedom of speech doesn’t just mean the legal right to say something (and even that is being eroded away). It also means having the ability to say it without fear of intimidation, and without ordinary citizens trying to shout you down, harrass you, and de-facto force you to remain silent. There is absolutely no respect for free thought in this country. Even the idea of ‘academic freedom’ has gone down the tubes - case in point, the professor who called the victims of 9/11 “little Eichmans”. On an intellectual level, I believe his comparison is inaccurate. But, to use the cliche, I would defend to the death his right to say it, because when it comes my time to say something unpopular (as I frequently do), I want that right to be there for me.</p>