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> People are pretty susceptible to passionate speech by charismatic figures; much more susceptible, in fact, than they are to facts. This just seems like an opportunity for racists to win hearts and minds.

The unstated assumption of this premise is that some people (never us, always others) cannot be trusted to make good decisions, and thus need to have their decisions made for them, for their own good. It advocates for human subjugation.

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"The unstated assumption of this premise is that some people (never us, always others) cannot be trusted to make good decisions, and thus need to have their decisions made for them, for their own good."

You can make good decisions if you have full information and you put a lot of time into it. I hope you're aware that not all racists are dedicated to the search for truth. Sometimes they tell partial truths, mislead, and lie.

Saying it's a bad idea to invite racists to speak publicly about their racist ideologies on university campuses is human subjugation?

ok pal.

The OP was endorsing debates of ideas, not one-sided passionate speeches. In fact the example of a Lincoln-Douglas format was suggested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debate...

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