Conservative Students Attacked, Threatened over Kavanaugh Posters
It’s a sad commentary on the state of political discourse in America when major college campuses, ostensible bastions of higher learning and enlightenment, allow their student bodies to devolve into violent mobs over a difference of political opinion.
And yet, here we are.
Suffice it to say, an already-yawning divide between liberals and conservatives has been opened even wider by the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — into a virtual chasm where progressives keep pouring vitriol in an apparent effort to poison the country’s politics even further.
At the end of the day, violence and threats of violence are never okay, particularly in the context of politics.
But after such a resounding defeat in the Kavanaugh confirmation, the far-left seems to have nothing left but violence.
Case in point, the University of Cincinnati Young Americans for Freedom (UC YAF) recently went about putting up flyers celebrating Kavanaugh, according to the Cincinnatti Republic, local conservative news outlet (via Campus Reform).
Those flyers included phrases like “Kava-Not Guilty” and “Stand With The Rule Of Law: Confirm Kavanaugh.” As one can readily see, the flyers don’t make any abrasive or aggressive comments.
Still, the flyers were met with considerable abrasiveness and aggression, with a video surfacing of a student ripping the Kavanaugh flyer down.
Not on my campus. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/y5n6KztBAQ
— Gianna Vitali (@GinVitali) October 4, 2018
Instead of debating the merits of Kavanaugh’s confirmation or engaging in constructive discussion, the only recourse left for Kavanaugh detractors seemed to be ripping flyers off.
Resorting to attacking flyers shows a lack of ideas, but at least it’s not outright violence against persons.
Sadly, physically removing flyers quickly gave way to actual physical threats.
A tweet, which was deleted and then eventually re-posted (missing capitalization and punctuation, of course), read: “if i see any one of these mfs on campus im tripping them on the steps.”
i changed my mind im not sorry so here it is again pic.twitter.com/YZaMS0u1AG
— hostile pedestrian (@sneeeezing) October 6, 2018
Perhaps the most telling part of all of this is that the UC YAF members fully seemed to expect these types of desperate responses.
“The calm before the storm,” the UC YAF tweeted.
The calm before the storm #ConfirmKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/vPKTKqfdte
— YAF Cincinnati (@yaf_uc) October 5, 2018
The Young America’s Foundation tweeted out a sniping shot against the anti-Kavanaugh crowd after some of the vitriol began circulating online.
And the tolerant Left strikes again! @yaf_uc https://t.co/SOdsJgcrYR
— YAF (@yaf) October 6, 2018
“And the tolerant Left strikes again!” the tweet read.
And the school’s student government seemed to be siding with the vandalism. As the Cincinnatti Republic reported:
“These were only some of the threatening and violent things written about the UC YAF members. The number of posts by UC students caught the attention of the president of the UC student government, Sinna Habteselassie, who sent a message to the official UCSG GroupMe accusing YAF members, who were exercising their free speech, of engaging in ‘petty discourse’ and merely attempting to ‘start a fight.’ She even threatened ‘to go to the administration’ if it continued.”
UC YAF President Regina Barton responded with a blistering statement to the Cincinnati Republic:
“These past few days have shown how incredibly little respect there is for those with conservative values and beliefs at UC. The threats of physical violence and the utterly disgusting comments made by fellow students to our organization’s members clearly illustrate this. It is impossible to have a healthy discussion and exchange of ideas if there is such a great disdain and hatred for not only the opposing viewpoint, but also the people who hold it. It is also very apparent that Student Government, an organization that should be working for the entire student body, is only interested in representing those who agree with their beliefs. Their desire to silence conservative organizations by ‘reach[ing] out to the administration’ is troubling and violates the First Amendment rights we all share at this public institution. Our campus culture which is founded on inclusion, diversity, and the idea that we are ‘OneUC’ is under threat by the very people that extol its importance. At a place of higher learning where intellectual diversity should be cherished, it is being suppressed.”
I’d like to believe that America can heal those wounds and prosper as a unified country of intellectual diversity again.
Based on what I’ve seen, I’m not going to hold my breath.
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