[K1NGWARREN]

Professor seeks to ban Klan from campus
Saturday, May 22, 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- University of Louisville professor Ede Warner has a unique plan to keep the Ku Klux Klan off his campus: He wants the school to ban the group, then argue in court that it's a terrorist organization.

"Nobody has ever done that,'' Warner said.

Klan members started posting fliers on campus early in the spring semester to protest diversity programs sponsored by the school. That stirred debate among faculty and administrators that has taken place on campuses around the country: how far the university can go to keep some groups off campus and how to best deal with unpopular ideas in the academic setting.

http://www.salon.com...klan/index.html

Listen, the KKK may be a bunch of fashioin-victim inbreds with higher thread counts than IQs, but everybody needs to stop screaming "terrorist" every time they see something they don't agree with. While the KKK, in their heyday, used violence to achieve their goals, today they can barely get it together to host a bake sale. This country is not made great by squashing "unpopular ideas".

[Heccubus]

So...you WANT them to hang around colleges distributing hate literature? If I worked at that school I'd want them the fuck off of my campus too.

[Just your average movie goer]

Absolutely. I'm with Heccubus on this one too.

[Laura]

You can want someone off your campus, and you can disagree strongly with their ideas, and you can wish fervently that nobody thought like them. But as committed as I am to a world free of bigots and assholes--particularly in organized groups with a history of violence--I am more committed to free speech.

If the Klan members are physically hurting people, then deal with that. Violence is not allowed. Prosecute them for it. It is not, however, acceptable to prosecute them for their ideas.

Even if they're speaking in favor of violence, the words and the actions are different, and should be treated differently. I can say "Someone should shove K1NGWARREN," and maybe that goads somebody into doing it. But the act is still the responsibility of the person who actually did it.

Talk isn't just empty. Words have consequences. Saying you're going to kill yourself or others, for example, often does and should land you a serious chat with a psychologist and time in custody for the protection of all involved. If the Klan is saying they're going to hurt people, that's serious. Investigate the claims and keep them away from the students they could hurt. But otherwise, if they're just disseminating disgusting and wrong ideas, nobody has any right to stop them.

I believe that so-called "hate speech" does detract from the feeling of safety on campus, but we need to attack the root of the problem, so that nobody WANTS to speak hatefully about anybody else. Sure, the Klan is too big and fanatical a target for this, but forcing their speech underground isn't the answer.

Let everything be out in the open. Many people are going to have ideas you find hateful. Fine--but as long as everything's out there, you're free to pick and choose the groups you want to follow. It's not "Free speech, as long as you agree with us." It's free speech.

[K1NGWARREN]

Rock on, Laura. Also, someone should shove K1NGWARREN.

[Vwing]

While the KKK, in their heyday, used violence to achieve their goals, today they can barely get it together to host a bake sale.

I can swear that was dramatized on a cartoon somewhere. Simpsons, South Park, something like that, it just sounds so familiar.

[Heccubus]

Probably South Park. The one where everyone rallies to change the South Park flag.

[Chefelf]

Rock on, Laura. Also, someone should shove K1NGWARREN.

Damn! I was gonna say that!

Everyone that does anything unpopular now is a terrorist. "Hackers" are now "cyber-terrorists", "speeders" are now "road-terrorists", "jay walkers" are "leg-terrorists". I think we really need to remember what the word "terror" mean. Terror. TERROR. Do hackers that steal credit card information or create DOS attacks on websites inspire terror? No. They piss people off... but they do not inspire terror.

While the KKK in the past certainly did act as a terroist organization I'm not sure that they inspire much terror now. I think they mostly just inspire people to slap their foreheads and say, "What a bunch of fucking morons."

But hey, I can't say I'd be saddened by anything that would ban the KKK from their ridiculous activities. If I was the dean of a school or owner of a business or what have you I would do anything in my power to block their hatemongering message from getting in.

[Heccubus]

Nate, I would easily consider some hackers terrorists. It is because of them that we are now forced to be so incredibly secretive about things. We now feel that we need firewalls to protect our computers and personal data, we now have to scan things that we download to ensure that it is not a virus, we now have to use encryption to protect our networks. To a certain extent, hacking is terrorism (unless you're white hat, of course, in which case I want to be your friend and bake you cookies).

Anyway, having given things some thought, I am beginning to see Laura and K1NGWARREN's side of things. It's definitely true that the situation has been blown out of proportion as far as the "terrorism" bit, and I understand the need for free speech. However, if someone walked up to you and handed you white supremacy literature, would you not be offended or concerned? I'm definitely very torn on the issue now...I think you've broken my brains.

[Emu]

Even if they were somehow able to get rid of the KKK, that wouldn't get rid of bias and hate, and it would probably just re-emerge in some other form. However, it is kind of funny how they are using the terrorism argument (annoying) against the KKK (also annoying).

[jyd]

kingwarren stop defending those terrorits you terrorist of terror!!!!

[Jordan]

i don't get it, do they meet up on campus and hold cross burning events?

They are such a fucking joke now, all of them.

[Heccubus]

i don't get it, do they meet up on campus and hold cross burning events?

They are such a fucking joke now, all of them.

No, that would result in them being brutally murdered by a mob, I'm sure. They just hand out "literature" and try to convince people of how evil those of colour are.

And yes, they are a joke. Almost as much of a joke as neo-Nazis.

[barend]

freedom of speech is important! people have died to gain and maintain it. and everybody has a right to say what they believe...

however, i think any speech that contains phrases like:"burn them fuckin' niggers fer bein' niggers" or have people who wear T-Shirts that say white revolution is the only solution is a speech that need not be finished.

i agree that the word "terrorist" is being thrown around way too much, but do i really have to share my Oxygen with people who bash homosexuals, kill people for being black, or inbread fuckwits who think the nazi organsiation needs to be reinstated?

I say no! any group that incites violence upon another 'group' of people are infringing upon the basic rights of others, and while i agree it's upto the individual to decide which voice to follow... i think some voices shouldn't. but then of course, who controlls this?

we have a cunundrum...
but fuck the KKK!

[Just your average movie goer]

Agreed, Barend. Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to say derogative, malicious and hateful things about millions of people on the basis of their skin colour, nationality, gender or sexual preference.

I agree that the KKK are not terrorists. But I don't think they have any place... well anywhere -

- although rotting in solitary confinement is probably the best place for them.