Look what happens in the land of free speech.
Students get arrested for expressing their opinions, then threatened with expulsion.
On February 8th, Micheal Oren spoke at UCI. During his speech Oren was interrupted by 11 protesters who had every right to speak out. Now they are charged with disrupting the peace and being target...
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13 comments:
Why were individual students getting up one by one and shouting out slogans?
Why didnt all of them rush the speaker, KILL him, and KILL the cops as well?
With how the crowd was cheering I doubt if they had their faces covered that anyone could, or would, ID them.
Oh jolly goodness; how rude of those students! D:
The thing is, Michael Oren (as offensive as he is) also has the right to free speech which these oafs were trying to disrupt. Their message could have had a lot more power if they had let the man bury himself in his obvious ridiculous propaganda and then used their intelligence to refute him. Instead they acted like thugs and discredited themselves and their message.
Free speech does not mean the right to trample over others rights to free speech.
I agree Susan.. rights are one thing but manners are equally important..
Ya 3ammi. The very concept of free speech is flawed.
Both parties shall have the same right to free speech at the same time? Where does that get you? WAR.
Simple. Free speech is a farce, and only war is the perfect way to end all debates.
I would have been much more impressed if those 11 pulled out M4s and started shooting at him.
ABIT, the 'wild' libertarian :)
I agree with Susan.
visit www.irvine11.com for all official updates regarding The Eleven
"This is entirely justified guerilla political action. I’m sorry but just because Michael Oren wants to attain respectability for Israel by associating himself with a prestigious U.S. university doesn’t mean that his audience needs to sit respectfully and listen to the pap he delivers."
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/02/09/oren-heckled-at-uc-irvine-talk/
@DubaiJazz,
Still; this is not justification for the students to act like that. It's not reflective of their cause; credibility cannot be established such way.
Khalood,
They were not concerned about credibility, they just wanted to disrupt the event. Good for them.
I'm not a big fan of disruption etc, i think they should have left the heckling and gone to harrass him during the Q&A section.. then it would be harder for them to be removed!
controlled action is always better than random action.
BuJ,
I know what you mean. If it was an intellectual who I disagreed with, I'd wait for the Q&A and try to pose intelligent questions to embarrass him.
This dude, Oren, was spewing hate and propaganda on Fox News (and other channels) everyday while Gaza was being massacred last year, gun slung over his shoulder, hands gripping the butt (of the rifle) hard. He's a war crime apologist par excellence.
Also, imagine, BuJ, if it was the other way around; a spokesperson for Hamas visiting a reputable US university and getting jeered by pro-Zionists students; they'd NEVER be threatened with suspension or expulsion.
Dubai Jazz,
Many people, including myself, do not see how this is a justification or a pass in being rude and belligerent in a public event. Those students may have the best and the most benign intentions, but they were not expressed in a healthy and civilized manner; that is for certain!
To be frank with you, I was highly annoyed with what Ambassador Oren had to say, but I was more annoyed when each student kept boorishly interrupting a public event every 5-10 minutes, such an ego they have!
This is very reminiscent to the Obama's health care reform plan town hall meetings, where democrat senators went all over the States to preach their plan and rally public support. It was a MESS! It was so because every oldie rose up and acted like a renegade thug the way the students did.
Same thing with Congressman Joe Wilson, a republican of South Carolina, who called Obama a liar during Obama's health care Congressional speech; he is still known as "Joe the Heckler".
If any person wants to protest, they can do so in a respectable and desirable manner. As right as they, the students' reprehensible actions, may be to a portion of people, be aware that there were far better and healthier venues of getting opinion publicly expressed.
What the students engaged in is not reflective of their far more noble issue, and this kind of behavior, mistakenly denoted as a typical "Muslim" or "Arab", will be seen and pondered for many days to come.
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