An Alum's View of Walsh and Civil Discourse

Letter to the Editor
An alumnus’ view of Matt Walsh and civil discourse

[Matt Walsh addresses audience questions. Photo credit: YAF]

The Matt Walsh event Monday night was the apex achievement of your long and arduous journey to bring this speaker to campus. Logistics and security were flawless. The outside attendance line was strongly advised that civility rules of audience conduct were to be respected. Freedom of speech was protected at the podium as much as the speaker. 

Technical:

Over twenty security personnel — Public Safety, Lexington City Police and Mr. Walsh's personal bodyguards — were scattered and visible. Security corrected audience video recording violations. All security and police were calm and professional. The optics said it all: possible troublemakers would be dealt with immediately.  

I have been involved in several prior Spectator speaker events at Lee Chapel and I know even under neutral conditions, event organizer anxieties can be substantial. You calmly demonstrated terrific organization with a tightly coordinated team and engagement with Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and security. I doubt there has been a more professionally managed event in Lee Chapel, aside from high government officials. 

W&L's lagging air conditioning couldn't manage the crowd's heat output. Seating was packed. Windows were closed.  

Freedom of Speech Was Well Protected:

In the spring of this year, I wrote a letter to the Lexington Gazette called “Broken Windows,” outlining why the university must be the adult in the room and punish Cancel Culture radicals. An excerpt from that March 29 letter explains why last night's high security was necessary:

“A W&L student recently marked a new low among the Woke Wave crowd at Washington and Lee University. This student issued a death threat to all fascists who might want to hear the Matt Walsh speech scheduled for March 30 at Lee Chapel on campus. (Note the irony here.) This student’s threat included a WWII photo showing dead, upside down, hanging ‘fascists’. For those interested in why this is also a serious legal matter, peruse Virginia Code § 18.2-60 (A)(3). Note the student's death threat may be a Class V Felony."

The Buckley Way - Civil Discourse:

The entire University, from president down through the faculty and administration, should be required to watch how free speech was common ground before Cancel Culture.

Witness William Buckley's “Firing Line” interviews with Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton, both prominent leaders of the Black Panther Party. I watched these interviews on Sundays on public TV. I was amazed. I had read Cleaver's Soul On Ice. While I disagreed with them then on their politics, I admired them for their civil discourse on Buckley's TV show.

My father — a member of the John Birch Society — and I — a long-haired libertarian — were of divergent reasoning, but similar opinions on the Vietnam War.  He was for either nuking them à la Curtis LeMay to eradicate communism, or to get out and stop wasting American lives; I supported just getting out, seeing no credible threat to Australia and understanding the impossibility of controlling corrupt local governments in Vietnam. We argued vigorously but respected each other's views of the facts. That was the Buckley Way. W&L late night bull sessions were no different. We got along as friends. So, yes, civil discourse can become our new normal, again. 

In Closing:

You all are really a brilliant example of how the forces of politics, public issues, and discourse, may be salvaged from the wreckage wrought by anarchists masquerading as social justice warriors. I offer my sincere admiration and thank you for your courage and energy.

You have answered the challenge to Cancel Culture. You have persevered. We must all continue to persevere, in order to preserve freedom of speech for democracy's future. Stamina is the heartbeat of morality. If Washington and Lee University can right its ship and jettison Cancel Culture, then there is hope yet.  

Truth is the lifeblood of fairness. Let the public decide by open discussion with each side respectfully offering its facts, not emotions. Let logic guide the jury of our public peers on the outcome. Free speech — not Cancel Culture — is written into our Constitution and Bill of Rights. 

The physical world — AND human events world — are not relativistic, infinitely elastic to presumption and assertion. History is humanity's newsroom proving what grand ideas succeed or fail as facts and consequences dictate. 

Civilization's arc does not inevitably bend upward. Nevertheless, last night, civilization's arc bent slightly upward. 

Per Ardua Ad Astra.