‘Don’t deny freedom of expression at uni’

The disputed debate between journalists Milo Yiannopoulos, notorious for his strong opinions on gender equality and rape culture, and Rebecca Reid, committed feminist, is finally to take place at the University of Bristol.

After a tenacious protest, which saw the LGBT and the feminist societies defending the Safe Space Policy on one side and the Journalism Society alongside a majority of the UoB students calling for freedom of speech on the other, the “hate speech” has been turned into a debate.

I personally disagree with Yiannopoulos’ positions and I have felt offended by his remarks on the fact that women should be paid less than their male counterparts for not working as hard and his stubborn denial of rape culture.

However, I would not deny a person of freedom of expression just because their point of view is antipodal to mine. In fact, that’s the kind of person I would aim to have a conversation with. 

As a young person with opinions and beliefs I don’t feel the need to be told I am right by people who think like me. On the contrary, I believe that having my opinion being questioned is a necessary step to grow wiser. 

Also, as a Journalism undergraduate and as a curious and inquisitive person I believe freedom of speech as necessary for a healthy democracy.

I found the Feminist Society objection denotative of narrow-mindedness that should not belong to university students. 

I don’t believe that a talk from an opinionated personality, however influential they might be, would jeopardise the “safety” of students. It would challenge their “comfort-zone” surely, but that is what education should aim to do: train youngster to question, investigate, build their own opinion, defend their positions and step out their comfort zone.

I don’t think that university students should be protected from people who have different opinions. In fact, contact with opposite points of view should be encouraged. 

Information is the most powerful of weapons. We must be aware that there are people out there that don’t share our beliefs, values and opinions that we are going to interact with in our everyday life.

University should be seen as a training ground to prepare us for the “real life”, not as a cosy nest to keep us harmless chicks sheltered from the world. We are going to step out of our classrooms one day and there won’t be no Safe Space Policy out there.

Our generation is the generation of the future. If we refuse to listen to people who think differently from us, to understand the reasons behind those opinions, to share experiences and points of view and most importantly to engage in debate with those whom we disagree with, then how are we supposed to deal with life in society?

Putting ear-plugs in and turning our back on confrontation is not an edifying attitude. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy – if we shut ourselves in an echo chamber and hush all the opposing voices and pretend not to hear them, how are we going to make that step forward in to the process of becoming well informed, active citizens? 

Listening to opposing point of views and taking up the challenge and engaging in debate are the starting points in the development of our community.

Nevertheless, I must admit that I found the more moderate decision of turning the speech into a debate very agreeable. Having two guests with strong and diametrically opposite opinion would result in a more balance outcome.

Debate is healthy, eye opening and instructive, and a less one sided intervention on a delicate topic such as gender equality. It would leave more in the minds of those attending to ponder over.

Read more about the debate here.