Why? The group was using its acronym to promote itself, and the acronym is FAGS. The most recent report of this kind of bizarre behavior comes out of San Diego City College and San Diego Mesa College, both of which ordered a student group of gay students and allies (The Fellowship of Associated Gay Students & Straight Allies) to take down posters promoting their group. Question: What in the world in this flyer, you might ask, constitutes "hate speech?" Answer: It’s the fact that the flyer says the words "LEFT HATES" in big, scary letters. The flyer was advertising a speech by Daniel Flynn, author of a book called "Why the Left Hates America." Here’s a picture and a link to the flyer. How about an even stupider example, if such a thing is possible? At Gonzaga University back in 2003, the Gonzaga College Republicans were disciplined for engaging in "hate speech" on a flyer, copies of which were torn down by Director of Student Activities David Lindsay. Apparently, context doesn’t count when you say the magic word. When it comes to Professor Hindley’s use of the word "wetbacks," facts and reality appear to hold no sway at all in the minds of Provost Krauss or Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz. The fact that he used the word in the context of criticizing it seems to have made zero difference to Brandeis Provost Marty Krauss, who for nearly a year has been standing by her decision to brand this nearly fifty-year veteran of teaching a racial harasser. Consider the case of Professor Donald Hindley at Brandeis University, who was found guilty of harassment and had a monitor placed in his classroom after uttering the word "wetbacks" in his Latin American politics class. I submit that this implies something truly bizarre for an American university in 2008: people believe that these words are magic. But increasingly, both on campus and off, we are hearing about cases in which those who utter "offensive" words are pilloried, no matter the context, in ways that seem to defy reason. Epithets are certainly unpleasant, and it’s not surprising that they often offend people. It seems like these days the worst speech offense just about anyone can commit is using an "epithet" to describe a person or group of people.
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