Generation Snowflake Neither Understands the 1st Amendment Nor Believes in Free Speech

A new poll conducted by the Brookings Institution shows the snowflake generation neither understands the 1st Amendment nor believes in free speech.  According to the shocking results: “20 percent of college undergraduates to believe that violence is a justifiable response to a controversial speaker.”

The survey was conducted in late August of this year by polling 1,500 American undergraduate college students. According to The Blaze, “Of the 1,500 respondents, 697 identified as Democrats, 261 as Republicans, and 431 as Independents. Another 111 respondents stated ‘Don’t Know’ when asked to state their political affiliation. Of the 1,500 respondents, 1,116 are students at public institutions, and 384 are students at private institutions.”

I describe these results as “shocking” only because America was built on freedom.  But anyone who’s been paying attention to higher education over the past few years probably already knew this instinctively.  When students claim to need counseling after a very civil speech by Ben Shapiro, you know their understanding of freedom is hanging by a thread. But some students are even being offended by objects.  Recently at Lipscomb University in Nashville, the President of the university Randy Lowry invited some black students to his home for dinner.  While there, some of the black students were deeply offended by the center piece he and his wife had used — cotton stalks.  Now, cotton is a very common way to decorate for Fall in the south, but that didn’t stop the student from freaking out on social media.  To his shame, the President apologized.  For a centerpiece.

Please.

Here are some more of the results of the poll:

• 44 percent of undergraduates don’t think the First Amendment protects so-called “hate speech”
• 51 percent think it’s appropriate to shout over controversial speakers so they can’t be heard
• 62 percent of students think the First Amendment requires a school to bring in a speaker of the opposite viewpoint to balance out a controversial speaker
• 53 percent of students think colleges are supposed to foster a positive learning environment by prohibiting certain offensive speech, rather than allowing for the expression of all viewpoints

It’s not easy to deal with ideas that we find repulsive or repugnant, but Americans should be made of tougher stuff.

(Yes, I’m looking at you Lipscomb students.  I’m looking at you, Lipscomb President Lowry.  I’m looking at you students who think Jewish Ben Shapiro is a white supremacist.)  

We have much work to do to try to unwind the generational mess intentionally created by the New Democratic Fascists.  But one way to do that is for the adults in the room to actually be adults, for the educators to actually educate.

Hat tip: The Blaze

Image Credit: Wikimedia