This House believes in the right to offend @ Cambridge Union

Thank you! It was great!

@PomegranateOfPersephone there is a video of the recent Oxford Union discussion available now on YouTube. I watched it the other day. They've edited out the bit where the girl glues herself to the floor.

Most of us talk too quickly especially when we're young and nervous. Let's focus on Kass.

Yes. Pure spite.

Wow! That is low. The video at the start of this thread has unfortunately gone private now but I do remember watching it at the time and wondering why it seemed that the student speaker who was meant to be making the same argument as Stock went off on some weird tangent which sounded like he was arguing for the other side. How horrible that he met with her beforehand as well. His speech made little sense if I recall correctly. Kathleen Stock and the male lecturer who spoke after her were both excellent.

@PomegranateOfPersephone I recently learned that he was supposed to speak on the same side as Doc Stock and shared a meal with her prior to him turning his coat and using his time to assassinate her character while giving the audience a true measure of his.

Thank you eleanorwish! I will have to see if I can find it and watch it. I am also hoping that a recording of Kathleen Stock at the Oxford Union will emerge at some point 🤞

Kass featured in the Genders Wars documentary which was on Channel 4 this Tuesday

I’m confused, has something new come out about Kass?

I thought Kass was a pretentious over privileged twat. I didn't know he was also a miserable back stabbing liar.

I doubt Kass even bothered to read Prof. Stock's book. So proud of himself for stabbing her in the back. Trans activists are stifling true debate because they have NO EVIDENCE of abuse. Being gay is so last century nobody cares so now everyone is non binary. Actual Trans murders Vs women in the UK
In the same 9 year period 9 Trans women were murdered ( 4 by their partners)
But 1800 women were murdered ie 2000 to 1.
SUPPORT REAL WOMEN!

In a moment of idle curiosity I checked the CU website - £140 pa for students, £230 life membership.
The home page says, in large letters 'defending free speech since 1815'. It would have been pretty embarrassing if the vote had gone the wrong way on that debate!

I might have more of a listen later, but only a few minutes in and Kass hopping from one foot to the other and saying "blargh" when he fluffs his words...

I just cannot be bothered right now.

I joined the CU back in the early 2000s, I’m pretty certain back then it was £70 for life membership, and much cheaper for a year. I only joined cos a friend wanted to and persuaded me. I think I only ever went on free Ben and Jerry’s night, or if there was someone really controversial.

The price increase seem astronomical.

I agree, it's phenomenally expensive for a debating society. I think the swimming club was £100/year at my uni and that included the coach hire to take us to the pool.

the Cambridge Union is a debating society, not student politics or anything to do with the students' union. CUSU or the Cambridge SU is the student union which is free and is where the 'politics' happen like in every other university. The Cambridge Union could easily be called the Cambridge Debating Society and like other societies you have to pay to join

Thanks for explaining, I had assumed it was something like that. (Trying to remember how much I paid to join societies at uni in the late 90s- can't have been more than £10?)

Oh lord. The bow ties. A bunch of overgrown schoolkids cosplaying at adulthood. Kind of cute but also deeply nauseating.

The guy who says 'we don't hear from people who are silenced' might want to consider that we have heard from a lesbian female academic. His version of who is silenced is just a white male privileged view which impressively fails to understand who is silenced in our society.

The chair is rubbish. Speaks far too quickly. Says some of the rambles are 'find speeches' but just says 'thank you for that speech' to Kathleen.

I went to Oxbridge and the number of super posh white blokes who identify as non binary so they can get some oppression kudos is alarming. One guy I heard of became a barrister and is now making quite a fuss about how people in court call him “Sir” and don’t recognise he is non binary. He went to one of the most exclusive all boys schools in the country, is solidly middle class and straight. But by dint of his magical identity he’s now special and not like all those other pale stale dudes! So it’s definitely a thing.

I can only listen to a bit of this drivel at a time - looking forward to getting to hear from some people who have thought things through. Just been listening to Teodore. He's hard to understand. I don't know what side opposition is. Is that what he keeps saying? interesting that when he lists the people who are vulnerable and discriminated against, he doesn't list women. I guess Teodore thinks that he's the perfect judge of whether something is OK offence or not? Quite how he feels able to state his superiority over a scholar like Dr Stock is lost on me. Is it to do with his being male? privileged? Or just because he says so and so there? If he thinks offensive words have the potential to cause harm and he is also able to understand that he offends people when he denigrates women who feel harmed when people say TWAW, then he is arguing that he himself should shut up.

It is worth making clear that the Cambridge Union is a debating society, not student politics or anything to do with the students' union. CUSU or the Cambridge SU is the student union which is free and is where the 'politics' happen like in every other university. The Cambridge Union could easily be called the Cambridge Debating Society and like other societies you have to pay to join. I don't want people to think you have to pay £180 to join the student union and be involved in politics at Cambridge as that's incorrect. £180 is obviously too much and not inclusive for any society but that's another debate.

Article in the Times
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/8dcbbf04-6782-11ed-9c3b-2d9184d0076f?shareToken=483b7066d50f895c8676651f69770704

Also this "University of Oxford has robust freedom of speech, says outgoing head":

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/6ececd9a-678b-11ed-9c3b-2d9184d0076f?shareToken=6e58e83de8374c847fb77dd5961e4c9f

Yes, it's only a small subset of Cambridge uni students who join. Those with the money, time and inclination. Probably even more unrepresentative than student politics in general.

Kass hasn't really thought this through, has he? I get the feeling the biggest thrill in Kass's life is that rush of adrenaline at being terribly offended. So much so that he actively seeks out tweets in which he can find some confected offence. If he really does ban the right to offend what will he and his friends talk about? How will he feel that delicious thrill of self-righteousness? And yes, I've deliberately misgendered him as a special gift so if he reads this he can enjoy the addictive feeling of victimhood at being misunderstood by a cruel world without having to undergo any real suffering.