Positive Liberty

This is shameful, and I am deeply disappointed to read it. Pam’s House Blend reports,

The Smith College Republicans sponsored a speaking event featuring Ryan Sorba, author of the upcoming book The Born Gay Hoax. After about twenty minutes he was forced to abandon his speech after protesters forced their way into the room and drowned him out. I’ll send videos and articles when they are available, but I thought I’d give you a heads up and ask you to please cover this action. I couldn’t be more proud to be a Smithie right now, after I saw so many amazing young feminists come together to stand up against this asshat and his hate.

I haven’t read the book, but I suspect from the clips I have seen of Mr. Sorba speaking that I probably would disagree with most of it and find the rest of it tendentious nonsense. It doesn’t matter. I’m even gay, I’m pretty sure I’ve always been that way, and even that doesn’t matter. This is America, and we don’t answer bad ideas in the public square with violence. The rot in our political culture runs deep these days, and it’s hardly conservatives alone who are responsible (though they are, in part). Real Americans shouldn’t behave this way no matter what policy outcomes they favor.

As far as I can tell, Mr. Sorba was there legally. There is no hint in any of the coverage that I can find on the story that would suggest Sorba was trespassing at the university, however questionable the choice may have been to invite him. A university is a place where people come together precisely so that they may encounter many different ideas, and often highly disagreeable ones. A principled response might have included some non-disruptive demonstration of disagreement, perhaps a few very pointed questions, and maybe a counter-lecture the following day or week aimed at rebutting the claims Mr. Sorba made.

The answer to an event like this is never to shout down the speaker. Not even if it were Hitler himself: Shouting down people you disagree with is the essence of the fascist method, regardless of the message on your lips. It fits badly with civilized behavior and reflects only the protesters’ own lack of faith in their cause.

Whether Mr. Sorba is right or wrong — and privately, I think he’s very likely a loon — what the protesters did here only ended up making him look right. Kudos to Pam’s commentators, who have overwhelmingly agreed that this is not the way to go.

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