This blog was posted by Shannon Love on May 24, 2009 in Leftism. See http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/7168.html .
The premise is that the (amorphous and sinister) "Left" uses "the lure of sexual freedom to disguise their removal of personal freedom in every other area of life," including freedom of speech. The author argues that the Left is "the source of almost all assaults on free speech", citing "speech codes on campus, sensitivity training, hate crime laws..."etc., and apparently that reveals that the Left is no longer a champion of free speech on important political matters. Now, it is the Right that defends "unpopular, stupid, or hateful speech." Upon first reading this far I was outraged, but then I realized that maybe "political correctness" has gone too far, and the author is confusing this movement with the ideology of a monolithic Left. I suspect I'll get some contrary opinions if anyone reads this, but barring a few exceptions (e.g. yelling fire in a crowded theater), people have the right to say any stupid or insensitive thing they wish, and it is horrible what people say about others' gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or politics, but their right to say it must be protected: intellectual freedom is not reserved for the enlightened--as irksome as that may be. OK, back to the author's argument: "only in the area of sexuality does the Left demonstrate a pronounced and consistent preference for individual decision-making." His/Her
"reasoning" is that as an ideology Leftism exists to "advance the economic interest and social status of articulate intellectuals" while seeking to restrict to deny the freedoms (particularly economic freedoms) of everyone else. And according to the author, fascism and communism began as forms of economic control, and once that control of people's material environment was obtained, police states were able to flourish. The Left, He/She argues is doing the same thing today by defining as personal (as in terms of rights) only that which "touches on sex"; everything else falls under the authority of the state. The irony is that as muddled and dangerous as this author's words are, those on the Left would defend his/her right to say them. I thought--OK hoped--maybe this was simply one person's opinion, but there were blogs of support; one that is particularly scary was at http://sandefur.typepad.com/freespace/ which--
presumably to seem more credible--downplays the vast Leftist conspiracy angle and quotes from a California Supreme Court decision. Scary, scary stuff; scary, scary people.
I don't know what I think about handguns on campus, but I do know that I think students and faculty should be able to discuss the issue, hand out pamphlets, and peacefully demonstrate it. I agree with you that it seems highly ironic that institutions of higher learning would attempt to prohibit students' rights, but, it has happened before, and like you said, it probably happens more than we know.
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