10,000 Students Just Got Schooled On What “Freedom Of Speech” Is And It’s Beautiful [VIDEO]

10,000 Students Just Got Schooled On What “Freedom Of Speech” Is And It’s Beautiful [VIDEO]

It’s no surprise that students today are more sensitive than generations before them. Years of being told that they are the best and brightest children to ever walk the face of the earth has inflated their sense of importance, while living in education bubbles where “triggers” and “feelings” reign supreme, has made them scared to confront opposing points of view. And one motivational speaker is calling them out.

Brooks Gibbs is a youth speaker who specializes in emotional resilience. He’s spoken out about bullying and the need for today’s youth to be more open to freedom of speech and what that really means — and he just brought that message to 10,000 students.

“This generation especially are like an emotional marshmallow,” he said. “Hypersensitive to the mean negative words and actions of others, because your entire life you have been taught a half truth.” But, Gibbs said, that “half truth” is really a lie.

“The half truth that you’ve been taught since you were in kindergarten are this,” he continued. “Words hurt, words wound, words kill. And if you go throughout life believing that, you are going to be emotionally fragile, volatile, overly sensitive.”

This mindset, Gibbs argued, can have a lifelong effect on students. “If you believe words hurt, when someone’s mean to you with their words you’re like, ‘you’re hurting me’,” he said. “If you believe words wound, when someone’s mean to you with their words you might be scarred for life. And if you believe words kill, you may be like the growing sad number of students who contemplate hurting themselves or hurting others in retaliation.”

Throughout all of history, children have been taught that words don’t hurt, Gibbs told the students. “Words only have the power that you give them,” he said.

“You see, when you believe that you have a human right that everyone must be nice to you, you’re setting yourself up for failure,” Gibbs continued. “You’re creating in yourself a victimization mentality. Because when people are mean to you, you say, ‘you have no right!’. No, they do have a right. It may be immorally wrong, but it is their constitutional right. In fact, the right we have in this nation is the right to free speech. Even if it is mean. Even if it is hateful.”

Suffice it to say, this is a message that students don’t hear very often these days. How many of them claimed they were “triggered” after this tough love? After all, universities across the nation are cracking down on free speech because no one’s feelings are ever supposed to get hurt. Harvard, for example, rescinded admission to prospective students because they posted “offensive” memes in a private Facebook chat. Maybe those administrators need to hear Gibbs’ message, too.

Do you agree with Brooks Gibbs?

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