George Will to Dissect the Assault on Free Speech

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The Jefferson Council invites you to hear George Will on April 25th at the University of Virginia. The topic of his address could not be more timely: “The Bad Ideas Fueling Today’s Attack on The Best Idea — Free Speech.”

Will began writing national syndicated columns in 1976, making him one of the longest-running pundits of our time. He’s also one of the best, winning the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1977. Age has not in the least dimmed his way with words or the incisiveness of his critiques.

The assault on free speech has been a top-of-mind issue for the conservative columnist recently. Consider a recent column he wrote about campus radicals at Stanford who shut down the speech of federal Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan.

The noun “parent” has become a verb as many people embrace the belief that perfectibility can be approximated if parents are sufficiently diligent about child-rearing. So, “helicopter parents” hover over their offspring to spare them abrasive encounters with the world. And “participation trophies” are given to everyone on the soccer team, lest the excellence of a few dent others’ self-esteem — the fuel that supposedly propels upward social mobility.

Larded with unstinting parental praise and garlanded with unearned laurels, these cosseted children arrive at college thinking highly of themselves and expecting others to ratify their complacent self-assessment. Surely it was as undergraduates that Stanford’s law school silencers became what they are: expensively credentialed but negligibly educated brats.

On a topic closer to home, Will has written about the cancellation of Suparna Dutta on Virginia’s Board of Education.

Wretched excess is almost everywhere. That includes Richmond, where some Democrats are as obsessed by race, and as unpleasant, as were their predecessors when implementing “massive resistance” to school desegregation. [Governor Glenn] Youngkin recently  nominated  to the state Board of Education  Suparna Dutta, a dark-skinned (sorry, pigmentation is, alas, pertinent) American.

After a Virginia Senate committee voted 14-0 (all its Democrats concurring) to confirm Dutta, some progressives (in conjunction with some Virginia Muslims)  branded  her a “white supremacist.” Democrats  control  the state Senate, and teachers unions control many of them. The  Senate  killed her nomination.

Will brings his tart tongue to Charlottesville April 25th. The speech starts 7:00 p.m. and will be held in the Minor Hall Auditorium. Co-sponsored by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Register now to guarantee admittance.


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Comments

21 responses to “George Will to Dissect the Assault on Free Speech”

  1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    He is brilliant, funny and incisive on this, as on many other topics. A must see.

    1. John Harvie Avatar
      John Harvie

      Hoping he’s allowed to speak and not be heckled.

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        I’ll report from the scene.

  2. M. Purdy Avatar

    I hope he talks about why he left the Republican party.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar

      It started with running afoul of Nancy Reagan didn’t it?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Who didn’t? It was “in the cards”.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar

          Ronnie?

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Wouldn’t bet. She was married to him. What’s that murder statistic that every cop quotes?

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      He didn’t leave the Republican Party; the Party left him.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        kicked off of FOX news also.

      2. M. Purdy Avatar

        And he would be right. He’s one of about a half dozen conservatives whom I admire who’ve left the party altogether because they recognized its nihilistic turn.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          Chris Wallace would be another of several who got booted from FOX because they did not move further right with FOX.

          1. M. Purdy Avatar

            Jonah Goldberg too.

  3. keydet16 Avatar

    I generally like George Will, he’s one of the better WaPo opinion writers and I like his discussions on canpus free speech. But, he loses support and credibility when he doesn’t call out conservative book banning and canceling of “David”.

    1. James Kiser Avatar
      James Kiser

      name on book that you can’t buy that is published supporting communist/socialist/democratic positions? I can name a few that espouse the opposite positions that you cannot buy.

  4. James Kiser Avatar
    James Kiser

    Any Bets on if he gets shut down?

  5. Lefty665 Avatar

    I’m not a George Will fan, but “expensively credentialed but negligibly educated brats.” certainly has a nice ring to it.

  6. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “The topic of his address could not be more timely: “The Bad Ideas Fueling Today’s Attack on The Best Idea — Free Speech.””

    So it’ll be situational irony then…

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Lemme see, George Will was censored back in… Oh yeah, never.

  7. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Good thing you are not holding this meeting at Wayne State. It seems that a woke, liberal professor from that institution believes that killing conservative speakers is an acceptable alternative to just shouting them down.

    https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/03/27/wayne-state-professor-suspended-social-media-violence/70052965007/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-03-29%20Higher%20Ed%20Dive%20%5Bissue:49132%5D&utm_term=Higher%20Ed%20Dive

    1. Lefty665 Avatar

      Shouting, shooting, it’s just a silly vowel. Trivia to the woke.

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