05 March 2010

Soapbox Moment

I get really tired of people thinking that free speech can be demanded and denied in the same breath. What got me on my soapbox this time is the UVic Student Society (UVSS) versus Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), a pro-life group whose opinions make me curl my nose in a funny way. While my own views on the abortion issue generally fall under the pro-choice banner, I stand firmly in the YPY courtyard in defending their right to have and make known their opinions.

However, the UVSS chose to deny club funding to this group because of their opinions. More precisely, it is because their posters are "offensive" and make women "feel guilty" for choosing abortion.

This is quite plainly bullshit and it makes me grumpy.

I feel guilty every time I see a poster for a yoga group -- and I am offended (as a "person of size") that the women pictured are usually very muscular and slim -- but I'm not deluded enough to think that I can crush their right to a campaign because I feel threatened by the messages implied by the posters.

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Over the past few days, the students have been voting and it has been (at least from my vantage point), brisk. This subject is one of the issues dividing candidates and I hope there is some change in the board that will support a more reasonable application of the concept of free speech.

1 comment:

Ted Godwin said...

Except it is not a "free speech" issue. No one is being denied the right to make known their opinions. What the UVSS is doing is exercising their right as an organization to take a stand on an issue. As an organization they have decided to be pro-choice. Therefore they have no obligation to fund anti-choice groups. What is sad is that the neo-cons are on the attack and progressives are paralyzed with internal divisions thanks to political correctness run rampant. The UVSS should be fighting back against these Christo-fascists instead of cowering in a corner trying not to "offend" anyone.