See movie “teaser” and interview, below. But in the meantime…
Why We Need To Watch This Movie (my pitch)
As a recently retired community college instructor (before that, high school, including AP lit/comp, before that middle school) who taught English, writing, literature, and language arts, among other subjects, I have a very special place in my heart for free speech. I especially enjoyed teaching satire–a genre where humorists poke needed fun at the foibles of society, politics, and human nature.
Thus, of late, I have mourned the increasing loss of that great gift to humanity, along with other forms of humor, as the anti-free speech PC crowd has been attempting to eradicate whatever irritates their very thin ideological skins (and satire can do a good job of that) even if what they close their ears to provides much-needed comic–and tension–relief.
But of course it’s not only humor that has suffered at the hands (and screaming voices) of the PC speech police who only tolerate your speech if it agrees with their politics. Discourse of every type, and on just about every level of society, also suffers.
When that happens, a literal silent coup takes place, rather, a “silencing coup.”
And it’s much worse than what is expressed in the old adage, “he who frames the argument wins the debate.”
The PC silencers, if you will, would muzzle not only certain words, phrases, and whole thoughts, but would truncate, if not eliminate, critical thinking altogether in an increasingly emotional frenzy ginned up by, shall we say, the movement’s political operatives (both witting and unwitting).
As the movement spreads increasing shade on civility, genuine diversity of thought goes dark, and it gets shouted down by street and intellectual thugs most noticeably–and ironically–in the very venues it is supposed to flourish: college campuses.
The very place where young minds are meant to be stretched and challenged by learning how to think about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful that emanate from the mind and heart of mankind, they are too often told what to think, add an implicit “or else.”
They are herded into ideological cages not only by the argument framers but also by the zealots who literally bar the door to the lecture halls where a speaker would dare present an opposing view.
But there is hope.
For one thing, young people will do what young people always do: rebel. The hip, slick, and cool fashions in thought, word, and deed of the old people soon seem old hat as the young become the newer HS&C kids. I remember how it was for me and mine back when: “don’t trust anyone over 30.” So the pendulum of HS&C-ness inevitably and eventually swings back.
Trouble is, where gather young, attractive, energetic, potential HS&C kids looking for their own cause célèbre also gather exploiters of same for their own agendas. And word can spread fast, particularly in this era of instant communication and global reach.
Of course, even among the young–and here is the other thing and the best part–there are also those who are savvy and wise beyond their years, who have been reared to think for themselves from a solid values-based foundation. I saw many of that kind of student in my years in the classroom, too.
So the pendulum of thought, word, deed–and politics–will begin its inevitable arc back, but not necessarily only to the opposite of what the oldsters preach(ed) but also, more often than we might think, to a regaining–or reinforcing–of the best of what mankind can be by overcoming evil with good. Something I happen to think our founders had in mind when they crafted the U. S. Constitution the way they did.
I just hope there is enough time.
And Now to the Movie
A bright spot–and a bit of hope that the tide is turning–is this new movie coming out in ten days.
Produced by comedian Adam Carolla, and Dennis Prager, Founder of Prager U., “No Safe Spaces” deals with the seriousness of the attempt to bridle our First Amendment rights, but does so with a touch of humor (yay!).
It opens in Phoenix, Arizona, October 25th 2019. (It was originally scheduled for release last fall). Watch for showings at theaters in your area.
Below is the official “teaser” and an interview with Carolla and Prager on Fox’s Tucker Carlson show, 10/15/19. (Watch if you dare, right?!)
pnissila 
New Movie “No Safe Spaces” Speaks Truth to Anti-Free Speech (PC) Culture…
…Aaaaaaand it’s about time!
See movie “teaser” and interview, below. But in the meantime…
Why We Need To Watch This Movie (my pitch)
As a recently retired community college instructor (before that, high school, including AP lit/comp, before that middle school) who taught English, writing, literature, and language arts, among other subjects, I have a very special place in my heart for free speech. I especially enjoyed teaching satire–a genre where humorists poke needed fun at the foibles of society, politics, and human nature.
Thus, of late, I have mourned the increasing loss of that great gift to humanity, along with other forms of humor, as the anti-free speech PC crowd has been attempting to eradicate whatever irritates their very thin ideological skins (and satire can do a good job of that) even if what they close their ears to provides much-needed comic–and tension–relief.
But of course it’s not only humor that has suffered at the hands (and screaming voices) of the PC speech police who only tolerate your speech if it agrees with their politics. Discourse of every type, and on just about every level of society, also suffers.
When that happens, a literal silent coup takes place, rather, a “silencing coup.”
And it’s much worse than what is expressed in the old adage, “he who frames the argument wins the debate.”
The PC silencers, if you will, would muzzle not only certain words, phrases, and whole thoughts, but would truncate, if not eliminate, critical thinking altogether in an increasingly emotional frenzy ginned up by, shall we say, the movement’s political operatives (both witting and unwitting).
As the movement spreads increasing shade on civility, genuine diversity of thought goes dark, and it gets shouted down by street and intellectual thugs most noticeably–and ironically–in the very venues it is supposed to flourish: college campuses.
The very place where young minds are meant to be stretched and challenged by learning how to think about the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful that emanate from the mind and heart of mankind, they are too often told what to think, add an implicit “or else.”
They are herded into ideological cages not only by the argument framers but also by the zealots who literally bar the door to the lecture halls where a speaker would dare present an opposing view.
But there is hope.
For one thing, young people will do what young people always do: rebel. The hip, slick, and cool fashions in thought, word, and deed of the old people soon seem old hat as the young become the newer HS&C kids. I remember how it was for me and mine back when: “don’t trust anyone over 30.” So the pendulum of HS&C-ness inevitably and eventually swings back.
Trouble is, where gather young, attractive, energetic, potential HS&C kids looking for their own cause célèbre also gather exploiters of same for their own agendas. And word can spread fast, particularly in this era of instant communication and global reach.
Of course, even among the young–and here is the other thing and the best part–there are also those who are savvy and wise beyond their years, who have been reared to think for themselves from a solid values-based foundation. I saw many of that kind of student in my years in the classroom, too.
So the pendulum of thought, word, deed–and politics–will begin its inevitable arc back, but not necessarily only to the opposite of what the oldsters preach(ed) but also, more often than we might think, to a regaining–or reinforcing–of the best of what mankind can be by overcoming evil with good. Something I happen to think our founders had in mind when they crafted the U. S. Constitution the way they did.
I just hope there is enough time.
And Now to the Movie
A bright spot–and a bit of hope that the tide is turning–is this new movie coming out in ten days.
Produced by comedian Adam Carolla, and Dennis Prager, Founder of Prager U., “No Safe Spaces” deals with the seriousness of the attempt to bridle our First Amendment rights, but does so with a touch of humor (yay!).
It opens in Phoenix, Arizona, October 25th 2019. (It was originally scheduled for release last fall). Watch for showings at theaters in your area.
Below is the official “teaser” and an interview with Carolla and Prager on Fox’s Tucker Carlson show, 10/15/19. (Watch if you dare, right?!)
PBN
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