The violent, mentally lazy thugs who rioted in Berkeley last night bear no resemblance to the famous protesters of the 1960’s and 70’s. I know because I preached on the Berkeley campus from 1970 until 1980.
THE FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT JUST DIED WHERE IT BEGAN
By Mario Murillo
The violent, mentally lazy thugs who rioted in Berkeley last night bear no resemblance to the famous protesters of the 1960’s and 70’s. I know because I preached on the Berkeley campus from 1970 until 1980.
Not only do they not represent the free speech movement—last night, they embodied everything the protest movement hated most. They did not take up the mantle of free speech—they dismantled it.
How ironic! What a blasphemous, poetic end! The free speech movement died where it began: in Berkeley…right where Mario Savio gave his famous and impassioned speech against the machine. (see video).
An autopsy will reveal the cause of death: terminal hypocrisy. Protesting alleged hate speech with actual hate speech. Condemning fascism by being fascist. 
I once saw a cringe-worthy moment on American Idol. Simon Cowell blasted a young singer because she had the gall to sing a Whitney Houston song. He excoriated her for not only having a mediocre voice but for choosing a song that would automatically compare her to a legend. That is what happened last night.
By staging their melt-down on the hallowed grounds of Sproul Plaza these squealing brats forced an automatic comparison to a real movement.
In case you were under a rock, here is what happened last night: A speech by Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled by UC-Berkeley police as security failed. Yiannopoulos was evacuated from the area.
News of the rioting made cable news last night as students smashed ATMs and bank windows, looted a Starbucks, beat Trump supporters, pepper sprayed innocent individuals, and set fires in the street. Others spray painted the words “Kill Trump” on storefronts.
“The left is profoundly antithetical to free speech these days, does not want to hear alternative points of view, and will do anything to shut it down,” Yiannopoulos told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview on Wednesday night. “My point is being proven over and over and over again.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJKbDz4EZio&w=560&h=315]
Here are the glaring differences between these coddled punks and the protesters I knew in Berkeley:
Substance: Back then you heard speeches—speeches that made a case. They could answer questions. Today’s so-called left cannot answer questions. They scream things they hear someone else say. They make claims that they cannot back up. If you ask them directly, for example, what does Milo say that is a lie? They get a deer in the headlights expression. Today’s campus snowflakes and agitators simply cannot bear to have their viewpoint challenged by facts. Is it because they intuitively understand that they have no substance?
Free exchange of ideas: Open mikes were common in Berkeley. Sometimes wackos would speak but opposing views and open debate were respected. The protestors in Berkeley in the 70’s were often atheists who hated the Gospel. Nevertheless, they defended my right to preach the Word of God. Occasionally, I was attacked but my attackers were condemned by most leaders of the movement.
Assisted suicide: The bottom line is that today’s rioters are killing themselves and their movement. However, it is an assisted suicide. Older professors, mainline Democratic leaders, aging hippies and a toxic media could intervene but they won’t. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, The New York Times and The Washington Post have a vested interest in silencing opposing views…even if it means crippling the next generation’s ability to think logically.
Last night was nothing but hooliganism. It had all the nobility of domestic violence.
In the video, you see Mario Savio railing against the machine. He decried a University that simply would not allow opposing views. Listen rioters, you are now the machine…worse yet, puppets of the machine.
In related news:
University of California denounces the violence and violation of free speech
Campus condemns violence, defends free speech
UC Berkeley condemns in the strongest possible terms the actions of individuals who invaded the campus, infiltrated a crowd of peaceful students and used violent tactics to close down the event. We deeply regret that the violence unleashed by this group undermined the First Amendment rights of the speaker as well as those who came to lawfully assemble and protest his presence.
The university went to extraordinary lengths to facilitate planning and preparation for this event, working in close concert with the Berkeley College Republicans. Dozens of police officers were brought in from UC campuses across the state. Numerous crowd-control measures were put in place. But, we could not plan for the unprecedented. Last night the Berkeley campus was invaded by more than 100 armed individuals clad all in black who utilized paramilitary tactics to engage in violent, destructive behavior designed to shut the event down. At that point the University of California Police Department concluded that the speaker had to be evacuated from campus for his own safety, thereby bringing the event to an end.
For the campus police, the primary objective is always the safety and well-being of our students and the public. That is what informs their strategies and tactics. In that context we are relieved that, as of now, there have been no reports of serious injuries.
We are proud of our history and legacy as the home of the Free Speech Movement. While we have made clear our belief that the inflaming rhetoric and provocations of Mr. Yiannopoulos were in marked opposition to the basic values of the university, we respected his right to come to campus and speak once he was invited to do so by a legitimate student group. The violence last night was an attack on the fundamental values of the university, which stands for and helps to maintain and nurture open inquiry and an inclusive civil society, the bedrock of a genuinely democratic nation. We are now, and will remain in the future, completely committed to free speech as essential to our educational mission and a vital component of our identity at UC Berkeley.
Good work!
Thank you, Mario for your truth telling words. These thugs are lost and far more than misguided, but purposely being used and abused by the former powers that were. Without the flow of dollars by George Insane Soros, these folks would dry up and blow away. We pray for their salvation, but they don’t seem able or willing to listen even for a moment so that Jesus might save them.
God bless you, keep your insights coming, I pass these blogs onto many others who are appreciating your work and words as well.
God bless America, and President Donald Trump as well.
Rosemary
I see Ann Voskamp disabled comments on her latest instagram post about demonstrating for the refugee. Comments are allowed on all other posts. I wanted to post the following.
Ann, so glad Christians start to protest and speak up. The bible makes it the responsibility of the state to look after the SAFETY of the country. It makes it the responsibility of the PEOPLE to care for the homeless. It does not make it the responsibility of the state to care for the homeless. Question, how many of the people that demonstrated adopted a child the past year or actively cared for the homeless in their city? Homeless already living in their city? The orphan already living in your city? How many of the people that demonstrated actively adopted a Syrian refugee, donated $10,000 for the home deposit etc? If whoever haven’t actively donated time and money to refugees or orphans but still protest or push the like button, you are a hypocrite like the pharisees which Christ spoke out against more than anything in the Bible. Jesus spoke out stronger against hypocrites than any other sin in the Bible. And that is the charge against Christians, they are hypocrites that talk and do not walk. Same thing Christ complained about. You want to allow new homeless into your country but does not care for the homeless already there. How many of the demonstrators has gone into downtown and cared for the struggling homeless minorities already living there?
I haven’t seen you demonstrate against the killing of babies in your own country? So murder is preferred against refusing entry to refugees?
God bless us with grace because we need His grace more than anything. As you say, we are broken vessels each with his own ideas how things should work.
God bless your good work. Just be fair and focus on the whole council of God.
#godislove #godisgood #prolife #marchforlife #thebrokenway
What I wrote on Berkeley University FB Page: (*In which I actually got threatened, and many attacked me – but this okay): What occurred last night at your Berkeley UNIVERSITY has nothing to do at all about Freedom of Speech but is about RIOTS that take away freedom of speech for others that see things differently than you. These RIOTS are a violation of freedom of speech period. When your students are suppose to be going to get a Higher Education but come out like this – this brings total SHAME of America and is a complete DISGRACE.
What are your students learning in your school as this RIOT is nothing to do of FREEDOM OF SPEECH at all.
When students act like this in destroying property and harming others who see differently than that person – this is LAWLESSNESS and these students are nothing more than THUGS themselves and should be punished completely for this wrong.
I voted Trump. I am fully American born and raised in America. All the men in my family line have served America in the military.
Freedom is not free – it comes with a high price.
I am a Christian believer of Jesus Christ. I live my life standard as according to God’s written word. I am also of Jewish blood. My son, Emad, he was raised up in Egypt and legally immigrated to America (took him over 5 years) to become a citizen the legal way. He was raised as a Coptic Christian Believer inside Egypt. I am proud of all this.
What is HIGHER EDUCATION especially Berkeley teaching our kids today – how to be THUGS….
You know long before the Jewish Holocaust took place in the end of the 1800’s the JEWS rights were slowly being taken away little by little. Why because they were JEW.
And then came the Holocaust murdering over 6 million innocent people. Today in America, as a Christian, my rights are slowly being taken away, bibles taken out of school, cannot share that being gay or having any sex outside of a marriage between one man and one woman – this is written in God’s word, but today in America – this is not politically correct so a person as myself has NO RIGHT to freedom of speech; Christian people who own their own business are being told what to do or else be shut down if they do not agree with the SOCIETY STANDARDS of living life (rather than GOD standards); I am very PRO LIFE as I want every beating heart to be born and Planned Parenthood was started by Margaret Sanger and she hated JEWS and she hated Negros (Her own words) so why as a woman would I follow someone with this kind of hate to support such a thing that really is ‘blood money’. This is not freedom at all but this is allowing others to dictate to you that ‘this is okay and moral’ when it is all about GREED AND LAWLESSNESS and selfishness. This is not FREEDOM.
today in America there will come a time when even Christian Believers will be killed / murdered because we are not politically correct, and everyone else has ‘freedom of speech’ but not the JEW or the Christian… and we will be killed just like in Islam Nations.
My own son, raised in a nation of Egypt as a Coptic Christian (Lives with me today in America)… the Christian Believers over in Egypt have no rights at all, are treated as 2nd class citizens, Women under Islam Shari’a law are worse than dogs, cannot drive, the husbands have the right to beat their wives; and here we in America have women marches that was lead by a woman that believes in Islam Shari’a Law… How Hypocrite is this?
This day as the holocaust in Germany is coming to America too… I can see the writing on the writing on our Americans wall… This is what we are becoming in America today…. we are chipping away taking away the ‘freedom’s’ for those we do not agree with, causing harm to them with even RIOTS, and the person was wanted that lost the election did not get in, so we come against anyone who voted TRUMP… What happened to democracy for ALL
AMERICANS? What happened to freedom of speech for ALL AMERICANS? Are we becoming a nation of lawlessness who are only lovers of SELF… This in itself will destroy our nation.
I am okay, in being killed for being Christian… not afraid at all.
But is this what we are teaching our next generation that freedom of speech belongs only to their thinking and no one else who thinks differently than themselves…
Those Berkeley riots were not at all of FREEDOM OF SPEECH but were about taking away FREEDOM OF SPEECH for others.
U.S. Code › Title 18 › Part I › Chapter 102 › § 2101
18 U.S. Code § 2101 – Riots
Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
US Code
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(a) Whoever travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, including, but not limited to, the mail, telegraph, telephone, radio, or television, with intent—
(1) to incite a riot; or
(2) to organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot; or
(3) to commit any act of violence in furtherance of a riot; or
(4) to aid or abet any person in inciting or participating in or carrying on a riot or committing any act of violence in furtherance of a riot;
and who either during the course of any such travel or use or thereafter performs or attempts to perform any other overt act for any purpose specified in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of this paragraph— [1]
Shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) In any prosecution under this section, proof that a defendant engaged or attempted to engage in one or more of the overt acts described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of paragraph (1) of subsection (a) [2] and (1) has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce, or (2) has use of or used any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, including but not limited to, mail, telegraph, telephone, radio, or television, to communicate with or broadcast to any person or group of persons prior to such overt acts, such travel or use shall be admissible proof to establish that such defendant traveled in or used such facility of interstate or foreign commerce.
(c) A judgment of conviction or acquittal on the merits under the laws of any State shall be a bar to any prosecution hereunder for the same act or acts.
(d) Whenever, in the opinion of the Attorney General or of the appropriate officer of the Department of Justice charged by law or under the instructions of the Attorney General with authority to act, any person shall have violated this chapter, the Department shall proceed as speedily as possible with a prosecution of such person hereunder and with any appeal which may lie from any decision adverse to the Government resulting from such prosecution.
(e) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to make it unlawful for any person to travel in, or use any facility of, interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of pursuing the legitimate objectives of organized labor, through orderly and lawful means.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed as indicating an intent on the part of Congress to prevent any State, any possession or Commonwealth of the United States, or the District of Columbia, from exercising jurisdiction over any offense over which it would have jurisdiction in the absence of this section; nor shall anything in this section be construed as depriving State and local law enforcement authorities of responsibility for prosecuting acts that may be violations of this section and that are violations of State and local law.
Jane may I have your permission to use this in a blog?
God put Trump in as President I can’t believe he would allow this to happen