A University Should NOT Be a Safe Space | Peter Hitchens | Part 6 of 6
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 чер 2017
- SUBSCRIBE for more speakers ► is.gd/OxfordUnion
Oxford Union on Facebook: / theoxfordunion
Oxford Union on Twitter: @OxfordUnion
Website: www.oxford-union.org/
The Motion: This House Believes A University Should Be A Safe Space.
Peter Hitchens closes the case for the opposition, as the sixth speaker of six in the debate.
Motion Defeated
ABOUT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY: The Oxford Union is the world's most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. Since 1823, the Union has been promoting debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.
"By a clear majority of 33 for and 267 against, and following a tense debate, the Oxford Union on Thursday evening voted against the motion ‘This House Believes A University Must Be A Safe Space’."
-Oxford Union
Thanks for that --I was wondering what the outcome was, although judging by the applause, commonsense prevailed. THANK GOD !!!
Guðmundur Egill Árnason Thank you for reporting the result. My heart skipped a beat as I misread what was wrote and a touch of panic and fear set in..
I quickly reread and breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew!
Thank Odin for that! I was actually worried!
and does this really make a difference?
It is an open secret that most universities are thoroughly liberal. Maybe the motion got rejected but business continues as usual? Anyone know the uni to make a statement about it?
don't you mean thouroughly Illiberal?
I love what he says about people working in healthcare it is so distressing that I can be fired for accidentally using the wrong "pronouns" on someone, absolutely ridiculous
(Gets someone's name wrong) No big deal
(Gets someone's pronouns wrong) FIRE THEM!
Woody Rooper yup thanks to all of the doctors who help keep us safe your work is a blessing and truly God sent I hope you all have amazing and content lives 😊🙏
More people should raise their voices to challenge this sort of censorship, as much as other kinds of censorship are challenged. It is a bit concerning how free speech is not really valued and taken for granted by Oxford students ... at this day and age and in the UK, the birthplace of so many thinkers that pioneered the conquest of the liberties we enjoy today.
Narcissistic lefties and gender lies
"Somebody has attacked a speaker who wasn't here for a speech that wasn't made...." ... rotflmfao.....
pure gold
Oh, yes, that was hilariously funny. I also wet and pooped my pants in the process, because it was hilarious funny. This man should have gone to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where no doubt, he would have won joke of the festival - it was that funny.
ROTFLMAOP&PMP.
@Joseph Park Sarcasm, I think. Although, I did pee and poop my pants at the hilarity.
It's amazing this is even a topic of debate
Christopher would be proud
He would.
He probably would say "not bad, but I could have done better...."
Because that's Christopher.
It is very, _very_ sad that such things should _need_ to be said. There was a time when no-one - of whatever political hue - would have needed to be told about the importance of free speech.
Extremely moral presentation.
Why have Universities become nurseries? Well spoken PH.
notice how that guy chips in with 'point of information' at the point where he is reaching a powerful point- deliberate ploy
to try and put him off and he was very sensible to deny the request.
Same idiot I think that butted in for 2 previous speakers.
Facts don't care about your feelings
*read in the high-pitched if not slightly grating voice of Ben Shapiro*
Tru
Chill out, freeze. I didn't make any kind of comparison. I just mentioned Ben Shapiro because he has become synonymous with that saying.
The problem is that some people think that their opinion is fact!
shadowsangheli "Accuse others of what you do." - Karl Marx
Safe spaces are bizarre. Yes minority groups need to vocalise thier viewpoints, but noone gets to speak unopposed. The largest minorities do have privileges, but we don't erase that by becoming anti-intellectual and ring fencing speech/ideas.
Perfect
I feel exceptionally moral now
does free expression fall under morality ?
Only if it occurs immediately prior to the consumption of a pint of full-fat milk
Morality is the practice, ethics the theory of good and evil!
...a torturer, living in a culture of customary torturing feels exceptionally moral as well.
How can anyone argue against this!!!!!????
I enjoyed the speech by Peter Hitchens. He mentioned young children being asked what political party their parents voted for in the election and then getting a negative response depending on their answer! What ignorance from the teachers! PC was introduced to control FREE SPEECH in an increasingly multicultural country! Free speech is of paramount importance!
His mannerisms are so uncannily like his brother's.
The very fact this notion has to be debated seriously shows how far down the drain even the best universities have fallen. The adults who appeased the nagging and whining should be deathly ashamed!
Marxist theory - Seductive as Lilith herself.
I mean the university spent hundreds of years fighting the censorship of religion where people could not say, write, sing, paint and think what they wanted and humanity suffered for it. In other words people were murdered and the rest were burdened by fear.
Now we are debating the very foundations of our free world in order to protect the feeling of child minded people who want to shut out the world and ignore reality and fact.
To me that show the selfishness of these kind of people all the people who fought and died for are right to think and speak freely.
This is truly sinister, living in a world dominated by peoples emotion would be chaos and with chaos comes war then death. it is important to maintain a world where we are free to say and think want we want for we are individuals and not a collective personality we have our own minds thus we have are own thought and feelings.
God bless Peter Hitchens
whimpered, and cried, well said.
MORAL
I see Peter Hitchens, I immediately click then like.
MedhaT i dislike him
Apparently, his facts and opinions hurts your beliefs.
Xenophobes can't offend me. They are all dim
I listened to him in many more debates and he never sounded intelligent but RACIST.
I did the same, and I've never saw him saying anything offending to blacks or women or homosexuals or anybody.
But it looks like being patriot and to love your culture and traditions and not being multiculturalist is to you racist.
I got the chills watching Peter, especially towards the end, brilliantly put !
Finally and once again, A True Intellectual Giant ! Not a f-ing actor/pop-star !!
The one time I agree with Peter Hitchens
You probably should agree more often with such a great man and leave his opinions on weed
Football guy 1000 I presume you were in favour of the Iraq war so?
T Nurt The Iraq war was a a good idea but Bush/Blair did it for the wrong reasons and the wrong way making us just as bad as Saddam we should intervened but supported rebel elements and let them take there own country back not bomb hospitals and schools
Give yourself time football guy, you'll find yourself agreeing more and more
I agree that safe spaces are childish and not a reality.
Excellent, Mr Hitchens!
PETER HITCHENS FOR PRIME MINISTER
For a long time I assumed Peter was the senior. But he's the junior. I also have one brother; and he's my senior. And while I still tend to side with Christopher, Peter said everything here that his older (???) brother might have said.
Koala Nectar So your an admirer of Trotsky too ?
Traditional Christian morality has moved from mainstream, to unfashionable, to deeply suspect in my lifetime. That morality is largely responsible for the free speech our society enjoys. We abuse it at our peril.
Would that be the 'traditional Christian morality' that gave us blasphemy laws and bans on erotic fiction, and made homosexual and bisexual men liable to arrest and imprisonment if they made their sexual attraction to other men known, to name but a few examples off the top of my head?
Christian morality is never legalism.
Yet it has often been imposed on the population through law, as the things I mentioned exemplify.
Numerous inhumane acts have been imposed on populations without the slightest recourse to Christianity. The body count for institutionally atheist regimes has been 100 million in the 20th century alone. Given the number of instinctively homosexual men within Christian clergy the church has made a terrible job of keeping them out, if that is the aim, which I doubt.
"Christian morality" responsible for free speech? Ridiculous.
Here, here!
Dear Oxford Union,
I enjoy these debates and it would be significant to find out what the tally is at the end of the day for all involved. Would please make a part 7 and show the results... or is this a safe space where some parts of the conversation are not aloud?
what a man
If Christopher was alive right now he and his brother would give it to them
Anujan Kirupakaran Christopher was an ardent admirer of Trotsky
Christopher believed the Soviet Revolution was benign
Christopher believed in regime change but wouldn’t go himself unlike Orwell !
Christopher hid behind his mastery of the English language !
Closing my eyes I hear Hitch.
Only fools would oppose agreeing Hitches.
Good old Hitchens, knew we could rely on you
The only space which is safe is a space where everyone can express themselves freely without fear
The fact that this even needs to be debated is staggering
I’d make a glitter poster for ya, Peter! 🙌🏻👍🏻 Woot! Woot!
Never thought I would ever give Peter a thumbs up (I'm devoted to 'The Hitch' brother) yet here I am, I can do no other.
The fact that this should be a debate is beyond me.
... and it's Peter Hitchins for the WIN!!
Well said Peter.
By a clear majority of 33 for and 267 against, the Oxford Union voted against the motion ‘This House Believes A University Must Be A Safe Space’.
I I am reminded of the Simon and Garfunkel song Sound of Silence. Specifically the second nurse. Silence is not the absence of sound, but the absence of meaning. People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening. I'm certain that I am not the only one
Thank goodness
I cant believe this is even a debate. They wouldn't have any free speech to make their case if what they wanted was taken to its inevitable end. When did a universities become play pens for toddlers
Liked, subscribed & shared.
No one else manages to do left wing and right wing all mixed up together. Radical and conservative all mixed up together as does Peter. Keep up the good work Mr Hithchens. Thanks.
So relevant today
Bugs me when I agree with little hitch.
Uni is a place of facts, of different viewpoints on events, and as such, it must be a place where we expose ourselves to and discuss even the dark ideas.
Safe spaces aren't about giving people the opportunity to be shielded from opinions that they don't like; they're about allowing people who've suffered some form of trauma to not have to relive it, or (if they've been made to relive it) to recover.
David Parry public spaces should not be determined by outlier cases, nor minority view of psychological harm. Otherwise the minority that gets to decide to draw the line could well be the far right minority.
Sorry, but why the fuck should someone who's been subjected to some form of trauma not have a space in which they can avoid reliving it, or, if they've been made to relive it, to recover?
David Parry there are lots of places.
Little hitch? Watch your mouth son.
7 minutes of pure sense
You know full well when Peter Hitchens says he has views which he profoundly believes in and would not be willing to abandon those views under any pressure, he means it!
Indeed, because he hasn't adopted his views out of popularity or peer pressure, but through years on deep thought, personal reflection, soul searching, acquired knowledge, and the wisdom that comes from keeping an open mind as you age. The only way he would abandon his current view would be through reasoned arguments based on testable facts.
My children are asked to write intimate essays about their family and the school 'psychologist' emails them using personal tones. It makes me FURIOUS! They are beautiful people who are being scrutinized, eaten up and spat out. Shame on 'Education! Shame on Sterile Universities.
Where are parts 1-5 please?
On a similar note, I heard one feminist activist call out some research as politically taboo, in this case about brain differences in men and women. This distressed me. If the scientific method is followed correctly, no research should be taboo. We want to know as much information as possible in order to make as much progress as possible. If the results of the research are unsavoury, it might mean you need to rethink your position. It's the politicisation of scientific/statistical study which is so often to the detriment of progress
factz don't care about feelings
I am shocked this is even a debate, of course a university should not be a safe space.
Peter Hitchens is the most important Brit on the planet
It is was even better in person.
Hero. I hope not to be only Legend.
Peter Hitchen alway's talk,s sense
For Heaven's sake, why does Peter not have a seat in the Lords yet?
He's turned down opportunities for a political life in the Commons where his opinions could make a difference, so he certainly wouldn't accept a titular role in the day care centre of the Lords.
Well I wouldn't like to see him in the Commons anyway. It is too confrontational, adversarial and of course centered on aggressive campaigning. Unfortunately lots of young people that only know Hitchens through short, time-constrained and often aggressive back-and-forths on Question Time, The Big Questions etc which I personally don't think shows his best side. Oxford addresses, longer debates, written works (his books rather than short, snappy columns and blog posts) are where he really shines. The Lords should (in theory) be more temperate, prudent, long-sighted etc so that's why I think he'd be well suited.
Peter's probably concluded that he reaches far more people through his Blog and outlets like UA-cam, than he ever would in the parliamentary echo chamber preaching to insomniacs and journalists.
Great speech, so true. Safe space is pure fascism. Safe space is Orwell's 1984 indeed!
Jesus fucking christ this comment is dumb.
One of the few honest journalists left
Oh the delicious logic of the british mind 😊
We keep telling them and they don't care.
Too late. It's time to simply go around universities now.
Peter ROCKS.
מאוד מאוד עצוב לשמוע את דבריו !!!!!!!!!!
I appreciate that we are having these debates but looking at the descriptions in most the videos, motions like these are defeated and that just tells me the students have their mind already made smh
These children need their safe spaces for when they leave their gated communities to interact with us of lesser upbringing. They need a place where they will not be brought face to face with reality. Which is why they want their self driving cars so they don't have to look at the environment around them and simply sleep until they arrive at their destination.
I don't agree with everything Mr. Hitchens has said in his vast debates, but that's what separates those who can appreciate intelligent debate, and those who don't have the mental capacity to hear all sides and form their own conclusion. That's how people evolve and develop. They don't simply listen to the sides they agree with to reaffirm their ideals, they listen to all sides and then come to the conclusion on whether or not their ideals are right. I am a not so devout Christian myself and have been degraded by being belittled and even assaulted for my beliefs.
Simply for wearing a crucifix. I don't preach, I don't tell people they are right or wrong for what they believe in, I simply try to live my life as myself and people don't accept that. It's sad that people try to blame one religion for everything as well as belief as being wrong. It's sad that If i were to state generally I were Jewish or atheist I wouldn't get much aggression as being Christian in many instances and it only becomes relevant when we talk about "sensitive" topics. And that is why we need sensible debates where people can bring out their grievances in a civil logical debate.
I'd also like to mention that a safe space only perpetuates people to being weak and ignorant. To ignore the plight and point of view of others is to stifle growth. And that's what safe spaces do.
The first 5 seconds scored a fatal blow against the juvenile offering of the previous speaker.
"...it should never be about emotion." Peter Hitchens
A university should not be a "safe space!" One of the most obvious truths ever spoken. The advocates of such idiocy are beyond hope intellectually.
Yup love Hitchens
University, of all places, should be an intellectually challenging environment, where the ultimate goal is to pursue higher-order truths about the world. If such intellectually challenging discourse is ousted from academia under the guise of creating a 'safe space', then people will be forced to have the real debates outside of university, and at that point, it is safe to say that academia has become redundant as an institution of higher learning. Peter gave a good defense of his position, but he could have gone far further.
Society has indeed slipped into ridiculousness when Peter Hitchens, a man with whom I rarely, if ever, agree, is to be found defending the only sound position in a debate
No one who promotes safe space is against intellectual discussions; the opposition side assumes a better, kinder, more civilized group of people in universities, and that’s simply not the fact. Isn’t the opposition more idealistic and utopian than the for side? Their argument also includes appeals to emotional effects: “people will be anxious about their thought which causes them to silence”. You can as well argue that to not be affected by such anxiety- stand with your pov- is as basic as “be kind and not cruel”.
There are a lot of supporters for the opposition side who support for the wrong reason- they can care less for intellectual discussion, but their own right to be ignorant and insensitive (cruel and not kind) to others. They don’t want consequences for it, because “these are just word it can’t physically hurt anyone”.
Is it truly intellectual discussion that you afraid will get take away--by having “don’t use n word””don’t imitate a stutter”--as a ground rule? The rules are there, the request for safe space are there, because we all know how cruel people can be. And that sometimes isn’t their fault, it’s just humanity, they never experienced so they don’t know.
“Safe space” the modern version of asking people to be kind and not cruel. And yes, this shouldn’t be an ask, but it is. Because we aren’t idealistic and utopian.
Hitchens wins
Silence, but also before you reach that point, dishonesty.
Mr brooks needs to clean his room. Till then he will be treated with suspicion
Rather ridiculous topic? But a beautiful speech 👊
Censorship is restristrictive and constraining.
A university is the one place where all ideas must be challenged
Yo is there a link to this full event because it looks like the other side made a speech and i want to hear that nonsense.
all these 'educated' people who don't take the time to educate themselves on what the term 'safe space' actually means. It would be like if history or philosophy students talked about the enlightenment in the 18th century as it it was synonymous with the Buddhist concept. we'd have a page of comments saying 'economy and politics are external distractions, you should follow your own path!'
What was the tally of the final vote?
Thanks!
University should only be safe space against physical and verbal abuse and violence and always a safe space for free thinking, respectful dialog,speach, dialogue and debates and always for knowledge.
For those who have, as Mr. Hitchens says, logic, fact and reason, there should be no fear of expressing their views. The problem is largely psychological - for many years, and by the time a young person enters university, they have been indoctrinated into thinking that any form of "straying" from the taught orthodoxy, will result in social ostracising, peer-led and often with the backing and support of the relevant hierarchy, together with an almost irreversible "labelling" of one, until they either leave the establishment in which they find themselves (and attempt to cover up their "transgression", for fear of being unemployed in perpetuity), or succumb to pressure and comply.
Such a situation has been a long time in coming about, the foundations being laid a generation or two ago, when "free-thinking" and all sorts of "radical" ideas were bandied around as most desirable (as indeed they are), but under the guise of "freedom of expression", "diversity" or "inclusion". The truth was (and is), that is was a "long game", being played by those who wished to shape the attitudes and thoughts of future generations. Now, the results are being seen - the "crime" of offending another is right up there with murder and rape. Indeed, the police forces of this country are statistically more likely to attend and attribute more resources to a "hate incident" than a burglary. Which, I ask, is more of a danger to life and property?
There we see the "orthodoxy" and the fear of going "outside the box". Freedom of expression, diversity and inclusion are not always good things - some expressed views are abhorrent to many, diversity does not always lead to harmony (the definition itself lists differences and variety - the very essence of debate) and inclusion also can reveal faulty logic, especially when it is forced upon ALL..
Currently, we have a whole generation (and more) of people who believe that, merely to oppose their view is "offensive" and a violation of their rights. Note - "their rights". What of your own rights? Does not the Law apply equally to all?
The "trump card" is the fact that a "hate incident" requires no evidence to proceed with action, in legal terms. The notion that someone, somewhere, is dissatisfied with a word, or a view, is enough to bring the full force of the Law down on the one who expresses the view with which they disagree.
As Mr. Hitchens quite rightly quoted, Orwell sums it up: "that which cannot be expressed cannot be thought". Sadly, that Orwellian train has now arrived at this particular station.
How can this even be a debate topic? The very act of participating in the debate means that you are against safe spaces so there can be no argument.
I'm assuming they voted for the motion.
3 years later, and things just got way worse.
There is no tooth fairy,
There is no Easter bunny,
and there is not Peter Hitchens
Im anti social . It wasnnt imposing to anyone but talking to myself or a bot in a lonely room in depression
well you can see he is Christopher's brother.
I'm on the left but fuck me peter is brilliant
Safe space is a euphemism for Lebensraum.
Remember when being berated by a professor was normal and thought to build character. Pepperidge Farms Remembers
Perhaps more people, especially the younger generations, should carefully examine the authoritarian social structures in less open societies today or in the past, and how censorship and the protection of sacred ideas are at the very root of that oppressive social contexts. If you believe that certain ideas or words should not be expressed, most probably the set of ideas you have in mind does not contain your own opinions of beliefs. Another way to put it: who should choose what ideas cannot be challenged or cannot be expressed? If the answer is you, wouldn't that be hypocritical and childish? If it was someone else, are you willing to be told what not to say? or to be told what you should not hear or read?
The university should be the safest space in civilisation for ideas to compete
the University should be a safe place... to say the fuck you want.
I don't enjoy bigoted speech. But ask yourself, what happens if the power to censor views go to wrong hands? Take a look at history, take a look at present. Would you want a despot to take over that power? No? Do you trust your leaders to do right by you and not abuse power for their own gain?
Jenkkimie you are guilty of a thought crime and your brain must be rinsed
One person's freedom is another's prison. If you enforce your freedom on others, then you don't genuinely support freedom.