David McElroy

If someone I agree with says something controversial, it’s just free speech and should be protected. But if someone I disagree with says something controversial, it’s hate speech and should be banned. Right?

Newspapers frequently air opposing views of issues on their editorial pages. It’s been a staple of school newspapers for years. Pick a controversial topic and two students write opposing views about the subject. It doesn’t seem controversial, but an attempt to air opposing sides about adoption by gay couples has turned into a serious conflict over free speech.

A high school newspaper in Shawano, Wis., is facing criticism after someone had the temerity to argue that adoption by gays was wrong. The article taking the other side — saying that adoption by gay couples was acceptable — didn’t draw criticism. So it’s not the discussion of the subject that’s the problem. It’s that some people don’t believe those with other opinions have the right to express them in print. That’s not free speech, apparently. It’s “hate speech.”

I’m not interested in trying to get into the subject of adoption by gay couples. It’s completely irrelevant to the point here. The only issue we’re going to look at is free speech and “hate speech.”

Here’s what the offending article said:

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There’s a vicious debate that rages among two gangs who oppose each other in a fight to the finish. Yes, it’s the battle over whether to use the serial comma or not — the one commonly referred to as the Oxford comma (or Harvard comma). I don’t use it, but don’t tell the pro-Oxford faction or my life won’t be worth a plugged nickel. (If the joke doesn’t make sense to you, you’re probably way too normal to be reading here.)

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What does a coach do when his players talk back to him, ignore his game instructions and can’t be on time for practice? Most coaches today would grumble, but accept it as part of dealing with modern youth. Coach Mike Allen suspended his starting five players instead.

Allen took over coaching the boys’ basketball team at Gunderson High School in San Jose last year. He believes in discipline and respect, but he didn’t find much of those qualities among the players on his team. Instead, he found lousy attitudes and a lack of commitment.

He gave the players on the team “two, three, four chances” to correct their shortcomings, but nothing changed. Allen said the players continued to talk back to him, ignore his instructions during games and “showboat” on the court. So he suspended the starters. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the team confronted him, demanding that he reinstate the suspended players. When he refused, all 13 members of the team quit.

“I refused to win at all costs,” Allen told the San Jose Mercury News. “I knew I needed to take a stand or it wasn’t going to be a worthwhile season.”

After he lost his entire team, he called up players from the junior varsity team. He’s now playing a varsity schedule with just six underaged and unprepared players. The team has a 3-16 record — and all three of the wins came from before the suspensions. In many games, the young players are being blown out. They finished one game with just four players, after two of them fouled out.

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