Your weekly Free Expression Tunnel ‘controversy’

Campus News NC State Administration40

Jon Sanders and the John Locke Foundation has the comments that most closely echo my feelings on the topic. In this blog entry Sanders sets the table of the recent developments and comments on them.

If you don’t like something, ignore it, respond to it, or paint over it yourself. But don’t run crying to the authorities to take away the Big Bad Scwibbles.

Amen. Part of being the “FREE Expression” tunnel is that EVERYONE has a right to…wait for it…wait for it…I bet you can get it….EVERYONE has the right to FREE EXPRESSION — even if the expression if stupid, ignorant, controversial, sexist, racist, and/or offensive. For better or worse, a part of our right to free speech in this country is the right to be wrong and embarrass ourselves.

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40 Responses to Your weekly Free Expression Tunnel ‘controversy’

  1. bradleyb123 11/04/2010 at 12:36 PM #

    Anyway, people need to remember that free speech is easy until it is something that is offensive. That’s when one must show they truly value free speech, not just free speech they agree with.

    Exactly. We don’t NEED a right to freedom of expression in order to protect speech about rainbows and unicorns. That right is there to protect UNPOPULAR speech. And what better example of unpopular speech than racist speech or so-called “hate speech”? That’s the very speech that is and SHOULD be protected. No one ever said others have to like or agree with what someone says. And last I heard, there is no freedom from being offended.

  2. triadwolf 11/04/2010 at 12:36 PM #

    First of all I whole heartly agree with the views that free speech is exactly that and you take the bad with the good and the stupid with the genius.

    I’ll also throw out that there is a fairly good chance that the culprits in the incident aren’t even NC State students. The campus is public and open to everybody; as it should be.

    I’ll put this out there for Chancellor Woodson to consider – It is not what is written in the tunnel that defines NC State, it’s the tunnel itself and what it represents. Don’t give a few idiots the satisfaction of thinking they are defining the image and views of NCSU.

  3. Rick 11/04/2010 at 1:31 PM #

    I agree with Jon’s column and wished he were active on this site again.

  4. JEOH2 11/04/2010 at 2:04 PM #

    One last thing I must clarify, the students didn’t “block” anyone from using the tunnel…and they painted messages against hate speech…which falls under their 1st amendment rights of peaceful assembly…the only problem I would have with this is if they actually passed some sort of campus ordinance against writing “hateful” speech, which you all know will never happen…other than that…I don’t see why folk are upset at these students…

  5. 61Packer 11/04/2010 at 3:23 PM #

    You’re right Alpha Wolf, I meant that NCSU officials should be more concerned with the sorry state of our athletics than they are with the mindless garbage scribbled on the walls of a so-called “Expression Tunnel”.

    And keeping with these two topics, it’s my free expression here to say that academic administration political correctness is at the root of both our tunnel and athletic woes, not to mention the mess going on 29 miles to our west.

  6. greatballsoffire 11/04/2010 at 3:24 PM #

    They actually did block the tunnel, even if momentarily:

    “The protesters also stood locked arm-in-arm, sang and prevented anyone from passing through the tunnel.”
    From http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/8565346/

  7. codebrown 11/04/2010 at 3:41 PM #

    Bottom line is that whether you think it’s censorship or not, this has become bad press for us. And it is this kind of rhetoric that has given NC State a ridiculous stereotype. I’m all about freedom of speech, as long as you stand up and preach it like the blowholes in the brick yard. But don’t paint hate-filled messages when no one is looking and hide behind the First Amendment.

    That said, come on guys, can we stick to the sports-related posts and discussions. We should be talking (and painting in the tunnel) about being 6-2 and how sick CJ Leslie is going to be.

  8. packalum44 11/04/2010 at 6:03 PM #

    The tunnel is silly and serves little purpose besides being an eyesore and negative publicity as has been pointed out. Get rid of it! I mean seriously, who the hell paints on it anyway? I knew zero souls in 5 years there. College kids can express themselves in English 101 or on facebook.

  9. dustinrr 11/04/2010 at 9:00 PM #

    tjfoose1 Says:
    November 4th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
    Let’s see… ban such expression. Check.

    Label as racists those who disagree with Obama. Check.

    Label as bigots those in favor of enforcing immigration laws. Check.

    Paint Tea Party folks as stupid racist bigots. Check.

    The next step? Anyone?… Anyone?

    Turn Fox News back on and keep thinking everything is that black and white.

  10. PackMan97 11/04/2010 at 11:00 PM #

    “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

    It’s simple. Free speech is either free or it isn’t. I remember there being racist, sexist and/or homophobic crap written on those walls weekly while I was at State. So what? No one got their panties in a wad, they simply painted over it as soon as possible. It was usually the first thing to get painted over.

    I had always thought the Free Expression Tunnel was one of the things that made State great. It proved that at State, we did more than pay lip service to free speech, we practiced it and I think we were a strong University because of it.

    Campus discussions happened because of the bigotry and hatred that was displayed on those walls. It wasn’t hidden or burried. It was talked about openly. And not because someone complained, but because it couldn’t be ignored by good people.

    Now, I fear that the politically correct police will destroy something that I feel makes NC State a great institution because they are afraid of those that might get offended.

  11. highstick 11/04/2010 at 11:17 PM #

    A little history lesson on “free speech” and the UNC System…

    http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/187/entry

    It was an interesting time….

  12. PackerInRussia 11/05/2010 at 4:39 AM #

    My reason to let anyone say whatever they want is this: As soon as you give someone a label that goes against popular opinion/PC rules (“racist” for example), then no one has to listen any further to what they have to say. So, if you are labeled a racist, then you must be an ignorant, backwards hick with no sense and no one needs to bother to listen to you. As a result, we no longer have to stop and think WHY we believe that this person is wrong. We just know that he/she is.

    Here’s the scary thing: what if the person is not an ignorant, backwards hick with no sense. What if he/she is a very intelligent person and has very well-presented reasons for why he/she is a __________________(fill-in-the-blank). If we’ve been taught for so long that something is wrong, but have never had to challenge ourselves to think about WHY we believe it is wrong (except for the occasional straw man), then as soon as we hear well-thought out reasoning, we may find ourselves with no defense because we’ve never had to have one before. We were always protected by the labels that we could throw out. I’m not saying there are good reasons to be a racist and we should consider them. I am saying that a person may have more reasons than ignorance as to why he/she is conservative/liberal/Christian/atheist/racist/whatever and if we really believe it is wrong, we need to be able to give a good answer. Once free speech is limited, though, those debates never occur.

    Labels can be good starting places to give an idea about where someone stands, but they shouldn’t be the reason to avoid debate or else one day someone’s going to ask “Why is it wrong to be __________” and no one will have a good answer. Free speech does more to ensure that we avoid the pitfalls of what we deem to be wrong than allowing the government or anyone else to determine what is open for discussion and what is not.

  13. bradleyb123 11/05/2010 at 9:12 AM #

    PackerInRussia, that was profound, and I mean that sincerely. Well done.

  14. hball57 11/05/2010 at 2:40 PM #

    I didn’t see what was painted in the tunnel. And just to be clear, I am African-American, I vote more Democratic than Republican and am more to the liberal thinking side than the conservative side.

    What frustrated me on subject like this is that many people will say we should just ignore statements like that or simply paint it over. Now it has been 30 years since I walk on the NC State campus as a student and my experiences are different than what people have today. But to me the worse thing we can do is pretend that racist or hate speech is not harmful to all of us as a society. By ignoring it you allow the thinking behind that type of speech to fester and grow. And until we understand that freedom requires respect for everyone, we will fail to experience true freedom for all of us.

    I wish those who paint the items in the tunnel would have the guts to say it in public and engage in real thoughtful conversation. I feel the first amendment right to free speech implies some responsibility – not in content but in taking credit for your views. The first amendment was writing to allow public free speech without retribution. If you write things in the dark of night and run and hide like a coward you don’t need the first amendment. If you need that to make your expression what are you complaining about? Why are we defending the right of someone writing and running? Why does that need defending? We should defend the right of those people standing in front of us saying “I believe this”. That is their right! And I support that!

    If someone has so much cowardice that they can’t publicly support their position, what do they deserve? Stand up and take credit for what you say! I may disagree, but then you get my support to write it or say it!

  15. highstick 11/05/2010 at 7:03 PM #

    I’d agree with you hball…I see a difference in “free expression” when it’s done “in the dark” in a tunnel versus having the nads to stand up and speak in public…

    I can much more defend the person’s right of free speech when they make it public cause then you can make your own decisions about the speaker. When they hide under the cover of darkness, it becomes, at a minimum, questionable about motive and intent.

    Doesn’t matter if its the KKK or the Black Panthers if they are hiding under the cover of darkness.

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