Can the leader of a democratic country silence criticism?

@bijouxbroussard Good point.

@RodionRomanovitch you're listening to your own cheering section and not watching the game!
You can't rely soley on the sound of your cheerleaders to make a touchdown, nor can you expect one setback of the opposition to make everything else in your favor.

@Some1Else My eye is firmly on the ball kiddo. No distractions here.

@Picklebobble2 What many don't seem to know too is the collaboration between the US and Nazi Germany. Further, Hitler first tried to expel Jews from Germany with the suggestion the US take them. The US refused. A parallel now between Trump and the refusal to help Syrian refugees

@SW-User I had a huge row with somebody on here a few days ago about the fact that America never apologises for the shocking errors of judgement it makes in it's foreign policy decisions.
American history, WORLD history, is littered with them !

@Picklebobble2 Some aren't even errors of judgement but deliberate decisions :(

There's plenty of left wing baby boomers. And millennials gave us the alt-right.

But more importantly, how are the left trying to kill free speech? Protesting Ann Coulter at a university isn't exactly the same as government legislation jailing people for having the wrong politics.

@CaptainCanadia Who said there weren't left wing baby boomers. I believe, if one knows the demographics, the point is there are huge numbers of conservative or libertarian baby boomers. Once we are dead and gone there will be so few they may as well not exist. So, the left will eventually be practically unchallenged and will have exactly what they think they want. But it will backfire and there won't be anyone to blame.

As for the left trying to stop free speech, you see it everywhere. You see it on this site, you see it in public venues, and you see it in state funded schools all across the country. Now this site is not state funded so the owners may do as they wish. But that doesn't change the fact that the left here does try to shut up speech they don't like. Ann coulter, on the other hand is but one example of what is going on on our campuses. In that venue they aren't just trying to shut people up, they are succeeding. And they are using violence to achieve it. When a university accepts government funds it has a constitutional obligation to protect EVERYONE'S constitutional rights. They are not doing that so they are violating Ann coulter's first amendment rights and the first amendment rights of everyone else who has been silenced. You might not think it matters because maybe you don't like ann coulter, or some of the others but I guarantee you, one day it will be YOUR speech that someone wants to silence and it will matter a great deal to you then. But you will have squandered your opportunity to preserve that right and you will deserve what you get. And it won't stop with speech. Once they take that, you won't even be allowed to complain when they snatch your other rights.

You don't have to be jailed for your rights to be violated, but thinking everything is ok because no one is being jailed yet shows a complete lack of understanding. We see in Uk where people are actually being arrested for speech. They don't have a constitutional guarantee to speech but I'm betting a lot sure wish they did. Our first amendment right exists to protect unpopular or offensive or even hate speech. Speech that is popular, or nice and cuddly, or not offensive in any way does not need protecting. You younger people had better wake up because what you do today will determine how your life is in 20 30 and 40 years.

"You younger people" - settle down grandma. I'm 37. I'm hardly one of the kids protesting on campus.

I work at a university and am on the executive and the chief negotiator for the academic union - academic freedom is a deal and I've been to countless conferences about it. This is my wheelhouse.

Counter-speech is not a violation of free speech, it is free speech. If someone says something racist and I say "Shut the fuck up, that's racist" - I'm not violating their rights. They may feel chastised and like they aren't 'allowed' to speak, but it just means there's a consequence.

Part of politics is shutting people down. And if you out-organize someone you can do just that. Hell, the right do it all the fucking time. Look at the number of death threats Anita Sarkeesian gets every time she speaks in public. Those are meant to silence her and stop her from speaking.

Universities are also not compelled to host every speaker out there - the ideas need to have some academic value. I don't see flat-earthers, holocaust deniers, or neo-nazis getting a lot of air time on campuses.

Is it the first tactic I'd choose? No. It can backfire. If whomever has the bigger protest wins out, the left can lose and have their speakers blocked. But it's not the end of free speech in America, and it's crybaby nonsense to believe that. The government ends free speech, not students. And the government's attacks on the press are far scarier. These kinds of protests have been around forever. They're not new.

@TheOneyouwerewarnedabout Care to explain ?