News Roundup: Lawrence Summers, Free Speech, more

Plenty of important news from over the past few days:

In a sad blow to academic freedom, Harvard president Lawrence Summers has resigned from the university under heavy pressure from ultra-liberal faculty members. While Summers had butted heads with many left-leaning professors during his tenure, the turning point came when he dared to utter the politically incorrect statement that male dominance in science and engineering could contain a genetic component.

Regardless of whether Summers is correct (and let's be honest - he certainly might be; men and women are obviously physically different, so the possibility of innate gender differences in other areas at least exists), it is outrageous that these faculty members booted him for merely expressing the opinion. This is a clear demonstration of the lack of intellectual diversity at many of our top universities, and the biggest losers will be the schools themselves, as such episodes can only diminish their reputations for quality education.

More on free speech and its limitations: Notorious British anti-Semite David Irving pleaded guilty in Austria to charges of denying the Holocaust and was sentenced to three years in prison. Many conservative writers, however, have posited that no matter how vile his statements, Irving's jail sentence is unwarranted due to freedom of speech. I understand these writers' concerns, but I must respectfully disagree with their assessments. I am, of course, a vigorous advocate of free speech of all sorts, but even in a free society, hate speech concerning genocide must not be tolerated. Perhaps Irving's sentence was too harsh, but formally denying the Holocaust should certainly be illegal.

This, by the way, is very different than the free speech issues involving the Danish cartoons. Yes, they may have been offensive and distasteful, but in no way were they hate speech on the level of denying the Holocaust. On the same token, if someone denied a genocide involving Muslim or any other victims (such as those in Sudan today), I would equally support prosecution of that person under hate speech crimes as well.

More on the cartoons as well: In light of recent violence in Nigeria and around the world, here is an insightful allegory that sharply exposes the outrageous Muslim hypocrisy that has continued into this past week.

But good news confirmed: Europe is finally starting to awaken to its large problem of hostile Islamic immigrants within a multicultural society. Of course, the linked reference being a mainstream media article, the writer tries to portray Europe's reaction as almost a bad thing. But the truth nevertheless emerges that the Continent has at last begun to respond to the increasingly violent Islamofascists in its midst.

On a related note, an L.A. Times columnist demonstrates just how mainstream media-reported news fails to accurately reflect trends in the real world.

And finally, some heartwarming news, as sent in by a reader.