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Article: COLUMN: The boy who cried 'hate speech'
- Article from:
- University Wire
- Article date:
- September 7, 2006
- Author:
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Noah Stahl
University Wire
09-07-2006
(Iowa State Daily) (U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa -- Imagine the football team rejecting criticism of its defensive play by accusing its critics of "hate speech." Suppose it issued a statement condemning sports writers' use of statistics as thinly veiled "bigotry" against linebackers.
Suppose further that team spokesmen wrote letters to newspapers, demanding they cease and desist all questioning of the team's performance, because it only serves to turn fans against them.
Nobody would fail to see through this deceitful tactic as a cheap way to silence critics without offering any counterarguments and instead exploiting the critic's fear of being labeled politically ...