Pamela Geller, Breitbart’s Big Hollywood: One-Sided ‘Free’ Speech at UC Berkeley

"We cannot as a society allow what we regard as vile speech to lead us to abandon the cherished value of free speech," Dr. Mark Yudof, President of the UC Berkeley University on why Louis Farrakhan was welcome to speak. 

One-Sided 'Free' Speech at UC Berkeley Pamela Geller, Big Hollywood

Recently Louis Farrakhan spoke at the University of California at Berkeley, and received a standing ovation. Before he spoke, however, there were quite a few protests over his being welcome on the Berkeley campus. But Dr. Mark Yudof, the president of the university, brushed them all aside and insisted that Farrakhan had to be allowed to speak there. Yudof’s explanation? The freedom of speech. He explained: "We cannot as a society allow what we regard as vile speech to lead us to abandon the cherished value of free speech."

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In this case, Yudof was using this policy and this line of thinking to sanction the unthinkable, to whitewash the filth of Louis Farrakhan’s ugly Jew-hatred and America-hatred.

In an infamous March 1984 radio broadcast, Farrakhan said: “Hitler was a very great man.” Later he claimed that Hitler had made a deal with Zionists that allowed Jews to “take the land away from the Palestinian people.” Judaism, said Farrakhan, was a “gutter religion.” Israel was the product of the Jews’ “old naked scheming, plotting and planning against the lives of a people there in Palestine,” and the ultimate result of all that scheming would be that America, as Israel’s ally, would be “drawn into the heat of the third world war, which is called Armageddon.” Farrakhan has also referred to “satanic Jews” and “the synagogue of Satan.”

But Mark Yudof could give a platform to this racist hatemonger at the University of California at Berkeley, home of the famous Free Speech Movement, because the First Amendment is pure. It can be used to allow a hearing to the most egregious and, as he himself put it, “vile speech.”

I have no objection to this in principle. Not at all. I am a firm believer in the freedom of speech as our society’s fundamental bulwark against tyranny. And it is under that umbrella, that big tent, that I demand that voices of truth, of freedom, of love, of liberty, of all that is good and decent in America also be heard at the University of California-Berkeley and on college campuses from sea to shining sea.

Lovers of freedom must appeal to the good that is in Mark Yudof and so many other university administrators like him all over the country — the very same good that propelled them to pursue their academic fields as a passion: the pursuit of truth. Surely even the most hardened leftist academic ideologue could not have forgotten entirely about that, even if it is just a dim memory.

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mossdale

12 years ago

Farrakhan was invited by the “African Black Coalition,” a student organization, to speak at their annual conference. Neither the university nor the president invited him.
If a student groups wishes, they may invite you to speak as well. But to act as though the president now owes you an invitation is either naive or willfully disingenuous.
And for the record, I despise Farrakhan. But you should get your facts straight.

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vangrungy

12 years ago

I love pointing out the Baha’i ideology to Rothschild Theorists

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vangrungy

12 years ago

mossdale,
all invitations go through the University and President..
it’s that simple..
allow that Hitler lover, allow any perception of hate..
wake up to real freedom of real debate in the realm of REPUBLIC!!!!
Democracy is a zombies that only need a majority to eat brains till kingdom come..

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Gde Rer

12 years ago

Questions for Our Dear Leader, his Excellency and mega genius of all mankind, Barry Hussein (Downgrayedd) Obama:
Do you believe that people should have the Liberty of Free Speech?
Do you believe that people should have the Liberty of being able to defend themselves?
Do you believe that people should have the Liberty of keeping what they have earned?
Do you believe that people should have the Liberty of maintaining their faith?
Do you believe that people should have the Liberty of having control over their own healthcare?

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mossdale

12 years ago

Vangrungy: not sure that the president has to approve speakers. If you have proof, I’d like to see it. It’s certainly possible speakers have to be “approved” at some level in the administration, especially if student activity funds are being used, or a university building is being used, but to equate that with approval of the message is faulty logic. The president made it clear he does not approve of the message, but he thinks the value of free speech is important. The university makes a point of permitting various viewpoints by letting students choose speakers for their own organizations. Again, if Gellar expects to rebut Farrakhan, she should be contacting student groups, not calling on the administration.

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Kufar Dawg

12 years ago

The Amcha Initiative has reported that Yudof seems uninterested in guaranteeing free speech at UC Davis, where muslimes have successfully collaborated to interrupt the right to free speech there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45MB-ANIVls.

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alyn21

12 years ago

People like Louie Farrakhan prove one thing. Even if you have nothing of value to offer the world or nothing intelligent to say, you can still be guaranteed at least 15 minutes of fame by slamming the Jews.
As a man who knows nothing about anything except for Calypso dancing, ( I believe he is an ex calypso man), Louie F’s 15 minutes should have expired long ago.
So would somebody please gong him, press the reject buzzer or do something to end his sorry performanc and get him off the world stage.

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