The day I realized I was the heckler, not the free speech defender

I used to go to every campus talk with a group of buddies. We thought we were the good guys, shouting down anyone we disagreed with. Last month, a visiting professor from Ohio State came to speak about policing. I went in ready to disrupt. But then a kid in the front row asked him a soft question, just trying to learn. And the guy from OSU actually answered it with data. My buddy yelled something rude and I laughed. That's when it hit me, I was the problem. We were the ones killing conversation. I've been on the other side since. Has anyone else switched sides like that, or am I the only one who grew up late? What made you realize your own side was doing the silencing?

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riverdavis27d ago

Ditched my own group at a climate talk last spring. We were ready to mock the speaker, but then she calmly showed a chart of local flood data, and my buddy whispered something nasty about her outfit. I laughed, then felt sick. That moment killed it for me. I realized we weren't protecting free speech, we were just bullies with better talking points. Now I sit in the back and actually listen, even when I disagree. It's way harder, but at least I'm not the joke anymore.

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