On February 28th, the Berkeley College Republicans (a conservative club at UC Berkeley) posted a video along with a statement on their Facebook page in regards to having one of their signs broken and then thrown away by another student on campus.Their Facebook statement reads:
"Today we had one of our signs destroyed by a student. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. If you know who this student is, please get in contact with us."
As a result of the incident, the student was cited with misdemeanor charges for vandalism and shortly released.
The video posted alongside the statement includes audio of members of the group referring to the student as a "snowflake," a term commonly used by The Berkeley College Republicans and other conservatives/ members of the alt-right movement to describe the "sjws" (social justice warriors) who they claim, want to be "special snowflakes," by demanding everyone cater to them and their beliefs.
Ironically, the BCR attend UC Berkeley, a school notorious for its liberal progressive history and beliefs, yet they expect the entire liberal student body to be compliant with their aggressive conservative agenda, thereby making them the true "snowflakes" on campus. While free speech is a right and has also played a part in Berkeley's history during the Free Speech Movement, the BCR have pushed their agenda to spread hate through controversy under the guise of free speech. An example of this was recently seen when the group invited Milo Yiannopoulos, a speaker known for his hateful targeting members of the LGBTQ community, to speak on campus. Somehow, the BCR seemed shocked that a liberal university with a widely liberal student body would protest in response because in their eyes, claiming their supposed denial of free speech acts as a way to play the victim card in order to justify their actions.
Interestingly, a sign being broken and thrown away is seen as an act of utter violence and an overstepping of boundaries for the club. Yet, hypocritically, a member of the BCR targeted and harassed students by taping Trump posters to the doors of campus apartments. The notion that inciting hate is preserving "free speech," progresses the recent ongoing battle for UC Berkeley students residing in campus housing.
At the end of the day, having a sign vandalized might be a minor inconvenience for the club, but the club itself has purposely caused upheaval on campus through the actions of individual members and the actions that the club has taken as a whole by pushing harmful agendas. While BCR students remain heartbroken over a replaceable sign, they fail to realize the lasting detrimental effects of their own actions.
