Daily Cal Editor in Chief Ron Lin shows an unimpressive understanding of Free Speech.

It was chilling to see how easily intolerance and hate could come from Americans who disagreed with other Americans' opinions. Free speech, the most American of values, was disregarded.

Berkeley has been vilified in the some media as un-American. But in its dissent, Berkeley has proven itself to be a beacon of hope that the nation will retain its tradition of tolerance and open debate.

And yet Mr. Lin cannot find more 'silencing of dissent' then the torrent of angry e-mails and letters that Berkeley received after it did lots of unpopular things. E-mails sent almost entirely to Opinion Pages and Elected Officials. How can this possibly be construed as violating Free Speech? If a government disagrees with a government, why shouldn't I have the power to argue against whoever I want? I should hope I have the freedom to think government decisions are stupid, and to express my opinion about that.

Even those people who stepped over the line-- the Death Threats and possibly the Treason people-- did nothing more then send some stupid e-mails from Kansas and Orange County. To claim that putting these e-mails in the 'trash' bin is morally equivalent to standing up to Cops in Sproul Plaza is laughable.

The Boycott is another example of Free Speech.. even if Mr. Lin doesn't see it so. Citizens have the right to not support whatever they don't want to support. I hope Alabama didn't claim their Free Speech was violated when MLK organized the bus boycott. 'We're dissenting against the national atmosphere of Black-loving,' said Alabama Congressmen Pig Fucker, 'These Africans showing nothing but intolerance and hatred of our decision.'

All in all, Freedom of Speech does not mean Freedom from being Disagreed with. One person out a hundred saying one thing does not prevent the other 99 from disagreeing with him. Nor does it prevent the one person from being the stupid one.. 'dissenting' just indicates where the majority is, not who is right. It's not a value judgement. Berkeley doesn't know that.

Mr. Lin also refutes his own statement that Berkeley is still a beacon of Free Speech.

Berkeley has been vilified in the some media as un-American. But in its dissent, Berkeley has proven itself to be a beacon of hope that the nation will retain its tradition of tolerance and open debate.

..And then admits

Admittedly, Berkeley has had its own problems practicing tolerance. In April, a lecture series moved out of Berkeley, weary that city police would be unable to guarantee security to protect their events from crowds of protesters. Those protesters shut down a talk by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two years ago.

I'd add the Patriot thefts, storming the Daily Cal's offices, burning the Patriot's books, the SJP Protests, and the attacks on Jews last year.

Berkeley is a leader in intolerance. It dissents a lot. That's not necessarily a good thing.

Calstuff.. biting the hand that feeds it since 9.12.02

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