I Believe in Free Speech and All, but I Draw the Line at Comedy Musicals!' (Video)

By GREG LUKIANOFF - THE HUFFINGTON POST
Added: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:25:11 UTC

Back in 2005, Chris Lee, a student at Washington State University, set out to make a comedy musical that, in the tradition of South Park, offended as broad a spectrum of people as possible. Unfortunately for him, he succeeded. His musical--a very loose parody of Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ--earned him protests, death threats, and even an organized attempt among administrators and students to disrupt the play.

Today, my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, unveils a new video about Chris' strange journey:

You can see all the documentation about this case yourself here, including the e-mail in which the Washington State University administrator admits that they counseled students to stand up and yell during the play. While the university did not advise the students to shout threats of physical violence and even death threats during the play, that's what the protesters did. Meanwhile, the campus police told Chris they would not protect the actors if the angry protesters decided to rush the stage. Amazingly, the president of WSU actually praised the university-funded, threat-shouting, play-disrupting students, saying they "exercised their rights of free speech in a very responsible manner."

TAGGED: CENSORSHIP, TERRORISM

Jason Burke - The Guardian 7 Comments

Salman Rushdie goes on offensive after Indian
festival appearance is cancelled

To name the unnameable

Kenan Malik - Pandaemonium 15 Comments

But in the real world where societies are plural, then it is both inevitable and important that people offend the sensibilities of others. Inevitable, because where different beliefs are deeply held, clashes are unavoidable. And we should deal with those clashes rather than suppress them. Important because any kind of social change or social progress means offending some deeply held sensibilities. The right to ‘subject each others’ fundamental beliefs to criticism’ is the bedrock of an open, diverse society.