Yale Students Sign Petition To Repeal First Amendment

Yale students are either going to be very embarrassed by what conservative filmmaker Ami Horowitz just did to them, or they’re going to nod their heads in agreement.

Whatever the reaction, the American purists among you are liable to be downright frightened.

For what reason, you ask? In short, because of how many Yale students saw no problem with getting rid of the First Amendment — the amendment that entitles Americans to freedom of speech, religion, and assembly as well as a free press and the freedom to petition.

Speaking of that word — petition — Horowitz was able to convince 50 Yale students in a single hour to sign a petition calling for an end to the First Amendment entirely.

He then posted the whole thing to YouTube. Here were some highlights.

Horowitz first approaches two Yale students — faces blurred — and says “we’re going to get rid of it [First Amendment], blow it up.”

Their responses…

“I think this is fantastic. I absolutely agree.”

“Excellent. Love it.”

“I’ll sign it for you guys. I appreciate what you’re trying to do.”

Horowitz seems to be having a lot of fun trolling the Yale students, adding to one that he feels “the Constitution should be one big safe space, don’t you?”

“I totally agree with where you’re at,” one student said. Another agreed that “micro aggressions” and “making fun of people isn’t cool.”

You can check the video for yourself below.

To be fair to Yale students in general, viewers have to accept a lot on Horowitz’s word. The faces are all blurred out. There is editing aplenty, and there is no real guarantee that at least some of those featured are not planted.

Nevertheless, it has generated discussion among commenters on the original YouTube video. Posted on Dec. 16, the video has already garnered more than 145,000 views at the time of this post.

Additionally, there are more than 1,200 comments, with a lot of polarization.

Some remarked about the amount of “educated idiots,” referring to the Yale students, while others called into question the video’s legitimacy, noting “the one time he actually said, ‘Repeal the First Amendment,’ the camera cut before the person responded. I’m calling bulls***.”

Some acknowledged the clever editing and the probability that not everyone was on board with Horowitz’s suggestion, but also noted that while they did believe some people disagreed with the petition, “the fact is some of this Yale students still signed it… its scary to think university students have such regressive positions.”

Real or no, the motivation for Horowitz’s video stems from the perception that university students are much more thin-skinned these days, and this isn’t a perception held exclusively by conservatives.

Yale students signing a petition to remove the first amendment. America has a helluva run: https://t.co/49lqc7jYEi @peterboghossian

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) December 16, 2015

A recent viral blog post from a self-professed millennial took other millennials to task for being too easily offended. The post, entitled “Generation Cry Baby,” garnered millions of views in its original form and thousands more when the Inquisitr reported on it.

“Millennials,” noted original author Rachel Foote, “your parents won’t say it, and your peers won’t say it because it seems every little thing is sending you all to a therapist because you’re just sooooooo victimized, but… Get. The. F**K. Over. Yourself.”

In addition to that post, there has been much criticism directed at millennials/college students for wanting to dictate curricula based on something called “trigger warnings.”

A simple definition of what trigger warnings are: content which may offend or be too “traumatic” to be studied by individuals in a classroom.

One example: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‘s chronic use of the N-word could be considered a trigger warning.

The Atlantic calls this backlash against freedom of speech on university campuses “the coddling of the American mind.”

But what do you think, readers? Is the video legit, and legit or not, do you think the sentiment behind it is real? Is freedom of speech in jeopardy among future American generations?

[Image via ShutterStock]