Why some worry the so-called 'woke mind virus' is the top threat to Democracy

WASHINGTON (TND) — The examples are piling up.

In March, it happened at Stanford University Law School, when Federal Appeals Court Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, was shouted down by students and staff.

One person told him, "It’s uncomfortable to say that for many people here, your work has caused harm." But the heckling continued to the point he was unable to deliver his remarks.

A few weeks later at SUNY Albany, conservative columnist Ian Haworth was escorted by police to another floor to be able to deliver his remarks on the merits of free speech.

In an interview with Fox News about the incident, Haworth said, "A lot of these colleges are afraid of these students so it’s much easier to placate them, to virtue signal and ultimately to shut down speech to avoid the hassle so it creates a cycle.”

The prevalence of these incidents is on the rise. Those protesting say they're standing up to speakers they see as spreading hate or discriminatory ideas.

But critics call it blatant speech suppression and censorship and see the trend detrimental to society. It even has a name: the “woke mind virus," as Tesla founder and Twitter CEO Elon Musk detailed in an interview Friday on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

"I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic, rational, and anything that result in the suppression of free speech," he said raising concerns about those who are canceled for raising questions whether about public policy or the origins of COVID-19.

"You can’t question things, even the questioning is bad," Musk lamented.

He and other critics are also pushing back against new approaches at schools. They include implementing more "equitable grading," loosening deadlines and taking into account hardships at home, though proponents say it will simply help balance an unfair system.

In a recent interview with Sinclair, Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity, made clear the process does not include giving all students A's

"We want our grades to be accurate. We want to make sure students aren’t punished in their grades or rewarded in their grades for things outside their control," he said.

It's one of many shifts in policies at schools and college campuses some see as long overdue: fighting back against oppression and an unjust system.

Meanwhile, others worry a bedrock of the country – free speech – is fading and is being replaced with speech that doesn’t make people uncomfortable or offend.