Free speech is hate speech, and at Cornell, we must live up to our motto “Any Person, Any Study” and prevent hate speech at all costs. During this year’s academic Theme of Free Expression, we must not only play the “race card”, but we must also play the “transgender card”, the “indigenous peoples card”, the “sexual orientation card”, and the “disability card” to prevent the harm that cis white heteronormative patriarchal able-bodied colonialist hatemongers such as FIRE’s Nadine Strossen and Greg Lukianoff inflict when they spew indefensible lies such as:
Free speech does not equal violence
Free speech is bigger than the First Amendment
You can shout ‘fire’ in a burning theater
Free speech is not a conservative talking point
Free speech fosters cultural diversity
Civility should not trump free expression
‘New’ justifications for censorship were never really new
Shutting down speakers is mob censorship
Lies are even worse than misinformation and disinformation as they embody both wrapped up in malinformation. This hateful concoction will make Cornell an unsafe racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, colonialized space that marginalizes already marginalized communities, and empowers the cis-heteronormative able-bodied, colonialist patriarchy. We must rally to the call: “Liar, Liar, you’re from FIRE” and mobilize ourselves to ensure that Cornell University leads the way in preventing hate speech during the Theme of Free Expression by transforming what Michael Shellenberger calls the Censorship-Industrial Complex into the more transformative antiracist gender-affirming Academic-Censorship-Industrial Complex.
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