FSW

My school runs an annual free speech competition called Tonderai: the event is dedicated to a man (named Tonderai) who was killed for standing up for what he believed in. Students are encouraged to write a speech and present it in front of the school on assembly. I have never done a speech before, but now that I am in Grade 12, have read 12 Rules for Life, and solidified my own political opinion I decided to discuss the dangers of equality of outcome and third wave feminism. I wrote my speech and sent it to a couple of friends who were excited at the discussion it might create. It got circulated around the school, and I received an email from the teacher who coordinates the event (we’ll call him Mr G) telling me that I was no longer allowed to present my speech as he had read it and thought it might offend some people. I told this to my friends, who, like me, became quite upset. One friend (we’ll call him Sam) got particularly angry about how my speech was being blocked from a free speech event and decided to do my speech instead of his. I thought this was an awesome (and edgy) idea, but told him not to be afraid to back down as well, as the repercussions may be huge. Sam did the speech on assembly this morning. Mr G was fuming and staring at me the whole time. It was pretty funny to be honest. Many teachers and students have since found out about it, and our head of secondary himself, after finding out about the situation, said that blocking my speech totally went against the spirit of the Tonderai event and he therefore fully supports what Sam did. The speech also encouraged some healthy discussion about feminism throughout my school, so that’s good. Mr G is still angry though. He sent an email to everyone involved in Tonderai thanking them for their time, but didn’t sent it to Sam. Haven’t heard anything from Mr G yet, and honestly am not expecting to. This censorship totally backfired on him.