Wednesday, October 05, 2016

That Word Does Not Mean What You Think it Means

The University of Michigan President certainly cheapens the meaning of the word terrorism in order to support his special snowflake student population.

The Detroit News: Schlissel: Racist fliers at UM an ‘act of terrorism’

A week after racist fliers emerged on the University of Michigan campus, President Mark Schlissel made a strong public condemnation Wednesday, calling them an “act of terrorism.”

“In a way, these posters, (can be interpreted) as an act of terrorism,” Schlissel said. “The only way to combat that is with support and solidarity ... and to move forward with a community of allies.”

While the racist fliers are indeed disgusting, stupid, and a waste of space, terrorism they are not.

Instead, they're an example of stupid acts of free speech, which is an expected though often unwelcome side effect of having free speech - you get the good, the bad, and the stupid speech. Mind you the fliers are on university property and can certainly be removed by the university, and they were and that should have been all the response truly necessary to such garbage instead of giving it a spotlight and prominence.

You don't handle stupid, racist, and offensive speech by falsely naming it terrorism.

This certainly defines the word terrorism down, and I'm sure the snowflakes at UofM will now claim they're terrorized when they see speech they don't like.

I'll also note that the U of M President had not made nearly as big a deal over other more offensive posters (which falsely used the name of a University Department as their source) and conduct towards certain groups on campus.

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