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Comment by adventured | Hacker News Reader

In fact it's being very openly argued all over the place in US culture today. The recent famous video of the Yale professor that was trying to talk rationally to the irrational students around him - it was all about the students claiming they had a right to not be offended, and the notion that their feelings trumped freedom of speech.

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Prof: So who gets to decide what's offensive? Who gets to decide guys?
Stud 2: When it hurts me!

Stud 1: When it's offensive to me!

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/3s5wz2/yale_adminis...

Separately, please note that "freedom of speech" is a term which refers specifically to the government using force to prevent or compel speech from private citizens. In the context of university student conduct, I'm not aware of any law or court case which impinges on this freedom. Being expelled from a university for your conduct does not qualify as an infringement of your freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech is a generic concept.

"The Freedom of Speech," the legal right defined by the constitution only applies to the government because the constitution only applies to the government.

Indeed, you are free to make your offensive speech. And I also have the freedom to tell you your speech makes me uncomfortable, and to convince those around me to do the same and shun you while you continue to speak it near us. Now both our freedoms of speech have been preserved and any appeal to "Freedom of Speech" is vacuous and we can never use the term again in this context. Great.

There is a difference between the legal right and the principle.

> Separately, please note that "freedom of speech" is a term which refers specifically to the government using force to prevent or compel speech from private citizens.

There's a whole world outside US: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

I'm sorry, I don't know what video you're referring to. What rational point was the professor trying to make? That white people dressing in racially-charged costumes should not be shunned?

I think this is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IEFD_JVYd0

Along with some NYT coverage on this general topic: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/11/02/when-a-gener...

This issue of students complaining about trigger warnings and the need for safe spaces certainly seems to be increasingly prevalent, but that could just be due to the media giving it more attention.

Interesting that according to that NYTimes link, offensive speech is considered protected "free speech," while people objecting to offensive speech does not qualify. I have just as much a right to tell you you're an asshole and not welcome near me as you do to say offensive things to me.

"Free speech" and "freedom of acting like a little bitch" are two different things though.

Lol

> and not welcome near me

Are you saying you believe that another person can only be near you because you give them implicit permission to? And that at any time, and for any reason, you could remove that permission?

Where did you get that idea?

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