This House believes in the right to offend @ Cambridge Union

[ScreamingMeMe]

Kathleen Stock did well here. Bit embarrassed for some of the students tbh.

Loved him and his "biting my tongue body language"

Sorry @ApocalipstickNow I would have responded earlier but I WAS HAVIN' A FAG!*

*cigarette!

Ah, Kass - Trinity is, for the unfamiliar, a bastion of wealth & privilege within the university. Kass is big into control - no offending people; pronoun pressure; & the absolute right of men to reclaim the entirety of the College, naturally. No more of this “women’s toilets” nonsense! Kass wants everything to be “gender-neutral”. Making it clear that Kass doesn’t care about women who actually have been assaulted/women who are prohibited from sharing bathrooms with men/women who play sport…

The Union tends to be full of wealthy would-be politicians. (Vs the SU, which has more of a mix eg Wes Streeting was CUSU President but AFAIK not a Union member.) Seriously skewed wee segment of the student population - membership fees are huge; & as debates are always on a Thursday [first day of the Cambridge week] if - for example - you belong to an orchestra that rehearses then or team that practises then… Notorious for being the flame to the Tory Boy moths 🙄

Isn’t Kathleen Stock indigenous and gender non conforming?

@MummBRaaarrrTheEverLeaking I thought the same. The three lads to the side of Kass drew my attention more than Kass did. I want to know what the middle one was showing/texting, especially when he clearly texted someone on the other side of the room then signalled with his eyes.

Also a real mix of attire on speakers Vs audience. Do only the speakers and chair have to dress up?

Yes, the committee members have always worn black tie and speakers dress formally. The audience just dress normally.

membership fees are huge

Did I hear £180 mentioned to join? That's mind-boggling!

Hence it's only the posh accents you hear. Debate societies are a politicians training ground. Gotta keep the riff raff out of contention, haven't they.

As a point of principle I believe that everything should be up for debate.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?)

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.

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 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.

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 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!

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