Another BBC Have your Say

So the BBC Asked:

Is debate about the Middle East being stifled at western universities?

A top university in the UK has been accused of "selling out" academic freedom of speech after scrapping a talk by the author Matthias Küntzel.

His lecture on Hitler's Legacy: Islamic Anti-semitism in the Middle East, was cancelled by Leeds university after safety concerns were raised.

Also, San Francisco State University (SFSU) is putting the College Republicans on trial for hosting an anti-terrorism rally at which participants stepped on makeshift Hezbollah and Hamas flags, one of which bore the name of Allah.

Are you at university? What do you make of these stories? Are western universities stifling debate on the Middle East? Should universities be places for free debate, whatever the topic?

Here is how I responded:

There is a reason why the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution included the right to bear arms as one of the bill of rights, because armed free men are not afraid of the tyranny of religious zealots, whatever their stripe, and a freedom from fear to speak is what truly enables freedom of speech to be open, honest, and complete. This is what has allowed the American experiment to include Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Puritans, Greek Orthodox, and religions of all kind, variation, and flavor to live in relative peace thus far, though they have each spilled each other's blood in the past in their respective homelands. Wherever free men are not armed, you will find deficits of freedom.

And for good measure, I signed my name Publius.

Go tell the BBC how you think.