An English professor in Michigan recently proclaimed that it would be “more admirable” to kill speakers who espouse “transphobic” or “homophobic” views than to just shout them down.Wayne State University Professor Steven Shaviro declared that “right-wing groups” invite such speakers because of their desire “to provoke an incident that discredits the left” and to give “validation” to their “reprehensible views.”
“Protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes,” and “the international and national press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed,” Shaviro said.
Shaviro likened would-be killers of such speakers to the assassin of Symon Petliura, Sholem Schwarzbard, who was released after killing Petliura in 1926, because Petliura had been complicit in the killings of thousands of Ukrainian Jews in pogroms. Thus, in Shaviro’s eyes, criticizing current views about sex and gender is analogous to supporting genocide.
Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson took issue with Shaviro’s comments in a statement: “We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel [Shaviro’s] post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech. It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal.” Wilson said the matter has been turned over to law enforcement “for further review and investigation” and that Shaviro has been suspended.
