We've all had trolls bother us, pester us, and just be down right inhumane. If it is on social media, we quickly search for the block button and sometimes even the report button. If it is in public, we may choose to call security, or find another place to be and hope they do not follow.
But what if you're a student, at a university. What are your options. Students at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee learned they are not protected by the administration from trolls.
UW-M students had been asking the university not to let Milo Yiannopoulos speak at the campus for over a month before his appearance last week. Oh, yeah, this involves that self-proclaimed troll. University officials let the speaker come to campus and then was shocked as to what he said.
A transgender woman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was verbally assaulted by a speaker invited by a conservative group on campus. That speaker was none other than Milo Yiannopoulos. If you don’t know how much about him, you’re better off—he’s a favorite of white supremacists who call themselves “alt-right." – fusion.net
You can head over to "Master Baiters: The Liberals Keeping America's Race War Alive" to see the entire UW-M speech with the excerpt below beginning about 49:30 into the two and a half hour blah-fest.
>>> Context: Milo just finished mocking feminists who critique the very harmful phrase ‘man up’ <<<
Milo: “I’ll tell you one UW-Milwaukee student that does not need to man up, and that is (Student’s name).”
>>> Milo puts an image of me, taken from last spring when I was earlier in my transition and appeared significantly more masculine, on the main screen<<<
Milo: “Do you know about (Student’s Name)? Have any of you come into contact with this person? This quote unquote nonbinary trans—you’re not laughing now, are you, you know him—this quote unquote nonbinary trans woman forced his way into the women’s locker rooms this year. Who knows about this story, any of you?”
>>>Milo looks around, people laugh<<<
“I see you don’t even read your own student media. He got into the women’s room the way liberals always operate, using the government and the courts to weasel their way where they don’t belong. In this case he made a Title IX complaint. Title IX is a set of rules to protect women on campus effectively. It’s couched in the language of equality, but it’s really about women, which under normal circumstances would be fine except for how it’s implemented. Now it is used to put men in to women’s bathrooms. I have known some passing trannies in my life. Trannies—you’re not allowed to say that. I’ve known some passing trannies, which is to say transgender people who pass as the gender they would like to be considered.”
>>> Milo directs the audience’s attention to the image of me.<<<
“Well, no.”
>>>Audience laughs. <<<
Milo: “The way that you know he’s failing is I’d almost still bang him.”
>>> Audience begins laughing a lot, keeps laughing <<<
Milo: “It’s just…it’s just a man in a dress, isn’t it? I should reapply my lipstick…” – quillette.com
The institution was warned and there's enough out there to know what kind of speech they are welcoming to campus … and they were apparently shocked at what Milo said. After the Milo incident, the school chancellor Mark Mone wrote “I will not stand silently by when a member of our campus community is personally and wrongly attacked. I am disappointed that this speaker chose to attack a transgender student.” The chancellor encouraged students to use #UWMstandstogether to help to recover and remain strong after the incident.
Sure, a hashtag is going to save the polar bears, the environment, transgender feelings, and Aleppo. Get real people. And that is basically how the transgender student responded in a very powerful and expletive-filled email. I don't mind the F-word do you? For the whole response, head over to quillette.com, but here's one powerful excerpt.
And we’re supposed to respond with positive messages, not anger? WHAT FUCKING WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN. Do you have any idea how much fucking privilege you have to even BEGIN saying something like that? WHAT. THE. FUCK. You do NOT get to dictate how we feel. You do NOT get to tell us what our emotions should be. Oh but okay, here’s a positive message: Nobody died! WOO-FUCKING-HOO! Positivity! Go Panthers!
Fuck no. I am done getting repeatedly abused and shit on, and expected to just take it and not be angry. But don’t worry, I’m not angry. I’m way, way beyond that. I am SO FUCKING DONE having to justify my humanity to shitheads like you all the fucking time. Angry bitches get shit done. You say to not respond with “anger”…goddamn you haven’t the slightest fucking clue what pervasive marginalization is like. – fusion.net
Was the university in the wrong to let Milo practice his free speech on campus?
Does Milo make you start to hate that accent?
Was the transgender student in the right to respond that way?
What would you have done?
h/t: quillette.com , fusion.net