Break Out of Group-think to Embrace Freedom of Speech

Free speech is a basic tenet of freedom in our country and sets us apart from many other societies in the world. However, a disturbing trend has been emerging. Students at several colleges across the country are resorting to unruly protests, shouting down learned speakers and even resorting to violence to shut down free speech.Let's face it, we don't want to hear from people we don't like or with whom we disagree. Yet they have the right to speak their minds without facing bullying behavior or even violence. Historically, many colleges, such as the University of California, Berkeley, have been the ones fighting for free speech. But the anti-free-speech activism at these same colleges is headed down a troubling road. Disruptive and violent protests are sparked by activists with questionable intentions and enabled by people willing to follow their lead — in other words, group-think.To be clear, groups themselves are fine and a great way to organize people for a common purpose. The problem arises when people blindly follow the lead of another person, especially if the underlying motivation of that person is anger, fear or hate. The followers in this group don't question the actions of the group at large. If these groups are allowed to grow and get bigger through group-think, society will suffer.  Continue reading...

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