• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Walkout of Anti-Gay Event

darkrecess

Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
120
Reaction score
88
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Very Liberal
Hello all,

I've been meaning to post this for a few days, just haven't gotten around to it.

I am a student at Sinclair Community College, where this took place. Yes, I was there. It was actually rather fun. LaBarbera was late, so we all took turns talking about why acceptance is better than vitriol and opposition. We stayed for a few minutes, then we just left.

Some claim that this was orchestrated by faculty, offering extra credit in their classes. For my part, none of my faculty members even mentioned this event was occuring, the only way I knew about was billboards around campus (like the one pictured in the 1st link below). I do know that a student advocacy group (the Traditional Values Club) invited LaBarbera to speak, and another advocacy group (the Silent Majority) were the ones who staged the protest. Both groups have faculty members.

The area where this happened was in the second floor of our library, we call it the Loggia. It can hold maybe 100-150 people, and as you can see in the picture, it was close to full when the event started, but after the exodus, maybe 20 people stayed to listen.

Mass Speech Walk Out: From Sinclair Community College To Peter LaBarbera With (No) Love

Another account (not mine):

The Dread Pirate Rodgers » How I Helped Ruin Peter LaBarbera's Day
 
another win for the 1st amendment
 
Hello all,

I've been meaning to post this for a few days, just haven't gotten around to it.

I am a student at Sinclair Community College, where this took place. Yes, I was there. It was actually rather fun. LaBarbera was late, so we all took turns talking about why acceptance is better than vitriol and opposition. We stayed for a few minutes, then we just left.

Some claim that this was orchestrated by faculty, offering extra credit in their classes. For my part, none of my faculty members even mentioned this event was occuring, the only way I knew about was billboards around campus (like the one pictured in the 1st link below). I do know that a student advocacy group (the Traditional Values Club) invited LaBarbera to speak, and another advocacy group (the Silent Majority) were the ones who staged the protest. Both groups have faculty members.

The area where this happened was in the second floor of our library, we call it the Loggia. It can hold maybe 100-150 people, and as you can see in the picture, it was close to full when the event started, but after the exodus, maybe 20 people stayed to listen.

Mass Speech Walk Out: From Sinclair Community College To Peter LaBarbera With (No) Love

Another account (not mine):

The Dread Pirate Rodgers » How I Helped Ruin Peter LaBarbera's Day

Congratulations to college students for sending a powerful and peaceful message to this jamoke.
 
Why would that guy get invited in the first place?

There is a small group on campus called the Traditional Values Club, and they invited him (on their dime). Kinda funny to think they spent money to bring him and he got protested, lol.
 
There is a small group on campus called the Traditional Values Club, and they invited him (on their dime). Kinda funny to think they spent money to bring him and he got protested, lol.

Where the hell were they then? If I'm paying to see someone, I'm making sure I get a seat. Did they just open it up to the public and think that everyone is going to want to hear this dude? If so, they are hella naive.

Then again, Ohio isn't the intellectual cradle of America. All you need to get into Columbus is a D+ average in high school and a decent time in the 40.
 
Where the hell were they then? If I'm paying to see someone, I'm making sure I get a seat. Did they just open it up to the public and think that everyone is going to want to hear this dude? If so, they are hella naive.

Then again, Ohio isn't the intellectual cradle of America. All you need to get into Columbus is a D+ average in high school and a decent time in the 40.

Those were probably the 20 or so people who stayed behind to listen. TVC is not a very robust group of people.
 
There is a small group on campus called the Traditional Values Club, and they invited him (on their dime). Kinda funny to think they spent money to bring him and he got protested, lol.

Dang that First Amendment. How dare they.
 
So....

A group of 20 or so people paid to have a guy come speak.

A bunch of people went "hur hur, this'll be fun to act like we're all there to listen to him then get out and leave. That'll show him!"

Then a group of 20 or so people got to listen to the person they paid to come speak to them.

Wow man. Way to go. Stick it to the man. :roll:
 
So, a bunch of 13th graders walked out in protest of a traditional values speaker. Gee, you must feel oh so grown up. I remember my first beer too.
 
How childish of you.

And this isn't?

Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps) at PSU Protest Documentary - YouTube

So....

A group of 20 or so people paid to have a guy come speak.

A bunch of people went "hur hur, this'll be fun to act like we're all there to listen to him then get out and leave. That'll show him!"

Then a group of 20 or so people got to listen to the person they paid to come speak to them.

Wow man. Way to go. Stick it to the man. :roll:

Truth be told, I have no problem with the guy coming to speak his mind. I am not sitting here telling everyone that the government should shut him down - in fact I believe the opposite. But if you are going to use your first amendment rights, you have to be willing to accept that others are going to use theirs, and that's exactly what we did. There is a rising tide of public opinion morally opposing the type of speech that LaBarbera is putting forward, in the same manner that public opinion once washed out the voice of segregationists and anti-miscegenation supporters. This is purely an outgrowth of that fact.
 
LOL. Such a victory!

At least your group was civilized about it, though I think faculty arranging a protest against free speech was wrong. Faculty should have stayed out of it - and if class credit was offered to those taking one side of a political issue - thus punishing those who do not agree - it was entirely wrong and such faculty should be sanctioned for doing so.

Again, at least it was a civilized protest rather than shouting him down.
 
And this isn't?

Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps) at PSU Protest Documentary - YouTube



Truth be told, I have no problem with the guy coming to speak his mind. I am not sitting here telling everyone that the government should shut him down - in fact I believe the opposite. But if you are going to use your first amendment rights, you have to be willing to accept that others are going to use theirs, and that's exactly what we did. There is a rising tide of public opinion morally opposing the type of speech that LaBarbera is putting forward, in the same manner that public opinion once washed out the voice of segregationists and anti-miscegenation supporters. This is purely an outgrowth of that fact.

You ever hear the saying "two wrongs don't make a right?"

The adult thing to do would have been not to invite this guy to speak at your school to begin with.
 
Truth be told, I have no problem with the guy coming to speak his mind. I am not sitting here telling everyone that the government should shut him down - in fact I believe the opposite.

I haven't suggested you were trying anything contrary to that.

But if you are going to use your first amendment rights, you have to be willing to accept that others are going to use theirs, and that's exactly what we did.

And that's exactly what I'm doing as well by mocking the attitude you're exhibiting in regards retelling what you did.

You and everyone else is well within your right to have done the protest.

In the exact same fashion, I'm well within my right to laugh at the attitude and implication that you made any actual impact or did anything of note other than basically a bunch of college kids having a circle jerk. You go on about causing an "exodus" where as in reality it seems like you got a bunch of people to show up for something that they wouldn't have shown up for anyways, and then got a bunch of people to leave something they wouldn't have shown up to anyways. And then want to act like it was some big deal.

You didn't cause an "exodus". You got a bunch of people to walk one direction and then walk another, which basically resulted in a little bit of a kurfuffle before the event went on in the exact same fashion it would've likely gone on had you not done it.

It'd be one thing if the little walk out actually was a few people and inspired a bunch of people who otherwise would've stayed to get up and walk out as well. But that doens't seem to be what happened. A bunch of douchy college kids went to something thinking they could cause a scene, caused a scene, and then clapped themselves on the back for making a scene.

Wooo! Social justice...or something :roll:

I'm sure the minds of those people who stayed were changed. I'm sure there were people who previously thought "Yo, hatin gays be cool" but suddenly realized that "Hey, a bunch of people walked out of something they never would've attended anyways. I now understand...hating gays is bad!"

You pulled off a college stunt and got some attention for it. Congratulations, you're campus is the whiny and less entertaining version of the Oregon Duck singing Gangnam Style. I have no issue with college kids acting like college kids and pulling a college stunt. But forgive me if I'm not going to fawn over it or buy into this laughable notion that it was some "powerful" social protest or some brave action or some significant political message.
 
LOL. Such a victory!

At least your group was civilized about it, though I think faculty arranging a protest against free speech was wrong. Faculty should have stayed out of it - and if class credit was offered to those taking one side of a political issue - thus punishing those who do not agree - it was entirely wrong and such faculty should be sanctioned for doing so.

Again, at least it was a civilized protest rather than shouting him down.

Faculty don't surrender their right to protest or boycott, and as you said the protest was completely peaceful. To all the rest, this was a controversial speaker. If the group who paid for him to come didn't want dissent they were perfectly free to hold a closed speech.
 
I haven't suggested you were trying anything contrary to that.



And that's exactly what I'm doing as well by mocking the attitude you're exhibiting in regards retelling what you did.

You and everyone else is well within your right to have done the protest.

In the exact same fashion, I'm well within my right to laugh at the attitude and implication that you made any actual impact or did anything of note other than basically a bunch of college kids having a circle jerk. You go on about causing an "exodus" where as in reality it seems like you got a bunch of people to show up for something that they wouldn't have shown up for anyways, and then got a bunch of people to leave something they wouldn't have shown up to anyways. And then want to act like it was some big deal.

You didn't cause an "exodus". You got a bunch of people to walk one direction and then walk another, which basically resulted in a little bit of a kurfuffle before the event went on in the exact same fashion it would've likely gone on had you not done it.

It'd be one thing if the little walk out actually was a few people and inspired a bunch of people who otherwise would've stayed to get up and walk out as well. But that doens't seem to be what happened. A bunch of douchy college kids went to something thinking they could cause a scene, caused a scene, and then clapped themselves on the back for making a scene.

Wooo! Social justice...or something :roll:

I'm sure the minds of those people who stayed were changed. I'm sure there were people who previously thought "Yo, hatin gays be cool" but suddenly realized that "Hey, a bunch of people walked out of something they never would've attended anyways. I now understand...hating gays is bad!"

You pulled off a college stunt and got some attention for it. Congratulations, you're campus is the whiny and less entertaining version of the Oregon Duck singing Gangnam Style. I have no issue with college kids acting like college kids and pulling a college stunt. But forgive me if I'm not going to fawn over it or buy into this laughable notion that it was some "powerful" social protest or some brave action or some significant political message.

Does it make you feel validated by dismissing it as a "college" stunt?
 
Does it make you feel validated by dismissing it as a "college" stunt?

I don't know if you post on a political debate board due to a need to feel "validated", but that's not why I post. I post because I enjoy expressing my views and opinions on issues. I'm "dismissing it as a 'college' stunt" because that's what I view it as, and thus I'm stating such. I don't post here for validation of my views.

Do you think Maggie feels "validated" by claiming it was a powerful message? I doubt it. I imagine she simply felt a particular way about a topic posted on this board and posted her views. As did I.
 
Faculty don't surrender their right to protest or boycott, and as you said the protest was completely peaceful. To all the rest, this was a controversial speaker. If the group who paid for him to come didn't want dissent they were perfectly free to hold a closed speech.

They do on the clock, if the university doesn't support it.

I think faculty doing it shows immaturity and poor judgment, and if I was president of the institution I would not allow it.
 
I don't know if you post on a political debate board due to a need to feel "validated", but that's not why I post. I post because I enjoy expressing my views and opinions on issues. I'm "dismissing it as a 'college' stunt" because that's what I view it as, and thus I'm stating such. I don't post here for validation of my views.

Do you think Maggie feels "validated" by claiming it was a powerful message? I doubt it. I imagine she simply felt a particular way about a topic posted on this board and posted her views. As did I.

A protest isn't right or wrong based on its participants being in college. That's what I meant, you know this, and I think you're above such facile arguments
 
They do on the clock, if the university doesn't support it.

I think faculty doing it shows immaturity and poor judgment, and if I was president of the institution I would not allow it.

I think you'd have to look at the terms of their employment to see if they were out of line.
 
LOL. Such a victory!

At least your group was civilized about it, though I think faculty arranging a protest against free speech was wrong. Faculty should have stayed out of it - and if class credit was offered to those taking one side of a political issue - thus punishing those who do not agree - it was entirely wrong and such faculty should be sanctioned for doing so.

Again, at least it was a civilized protest rather than shouting him down.
no one's free speech was in jeopardy and it looks like a student protest
 
I haven't suggested you were trying anything contrary to that.



And that's exactly what I'm doing as well by mocking the attitude you're exhibiting in regards retelling what you did.

You and everyone else is well within your right to have done the protest.

In the exact same fashion, I'm well within my right to laugh at the attitude and implication that you made any actual impact or did anything of note other than basically a bunch of college kids having a circle jerk. You go on about causing an "exodus" where as in reality it seems like you got a bunch of people to show up for something that they wouldn't have shown up for anyways, and then got a bunch of people to leave something they wouldn't have shown up to anyways. And then want to act like it was some big deal.

You didn't cause an "exodus". You got a bunch of people to walk one direction and then walk another, which basically resulted in a little bit of a kurfuffle before the event went on in the exact same fashion it would've likely gone on had you not done it.

It'd be one thing if the little walk out actually was a few people and inspired a bunch of people who otherwise would've stayed to get up and walk out as well. But that doens't seem to be what happened. A bunch of douchy college kids went to something thinking they could cause a scene, caused a scene, and then clapped themselves on the back for making a scene.

Wooo! Social justice...or something :roll:

I'm sure the minds of those people who stayed were changed. I'm sure there were people who previously thought "Yo, hatin gays be cool" but suddenly realized that "Hey, a bunch of people walked out of something they never would've attended anyways. I now understand...hating gays is bad!"

You pulled off a college stunt and got some attention for it. Congratulations, you're campus is the whiny and less entertaining version of the Oregon Duck singing Gangnam Style. I have no issue with college kids acting like college kids and pulling a college stunt. But forgive me if I'm not going to fawn over it or buy into this laughable notion that it was some "powerful" social protest or some brave action or some significant political message.


It's called "moral suasion" and it has been shown to work.

You can mock it, if it pleases you
 
I think you'd have to look at the terms of their employment to see if they were out of line.

I doubt that there's a clause in that contract, but I would say that any action that causes a poor reflection on the university could be a dismissable offense. That includes this, in my book.

Many professors already have limited reign to force their agendas. They don't need more.
 
Back
Top Bottom