Adam Carolla delivers blistering testimony to Congress on removing ‘safe spaces’ from colleges

Sarah Taylor  Aug 2, 2017 9:25 pm

Adam Carolla delivers blistering testimony to Congress on free speech. (Image source: Facebook video screenshot) 

Comedian Adam Carolla presented a testimony to Congress on free speech last week, and claimed that college students are perpetually offended by everything — and that so many “safe spaces” on college campuses exist — because adults coddle children and allow them to “retreat” from debate rather than face it head-on. 

“We’re talking a lot about the kids, and I think they’re just that: kids. We are the adults,” he said. “I mean, these are 18- and 19-year-old kids at these college campuses. They grew up dipped in Purell, playing soccer games where they never kept score and watching ‘Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!’ and we’re asking them to be mature. We need the adults to start being the adults.”

Carolla, not a fan of collegiate “safe spaces,” railed against raising children in a bubble. 

He added that children and young adults are America’s future, but that today’s adults need to “act” like adults. 

“Children are the future, but we are the present, and we are the adults and we need to act like it,” he said. “And I feel that what’s going on on these campuses is — we need law and order. We need to bring back law and order. But I think if we just had order we wouldn’t need law. So, could we just bring back order, and could the faculty and administration on these campuses act like faculty and administration?”

Carolla followed up his epic speech with an interview with The Hill, where he further addressed the destructive nature of “safe spaces.” 

He said: 

“I’ve been doing talk radio for more than three decades and I host a daily podcast. This means I constantly have guests on who disagree with me on many subjects. Challenging their ideas and points of views — while they do the same to me — is an important part of the public discourse. One thing I’ve learned about Americans from talking with them for more than 30 years is that we like to argue and debate, even among friends — and we’re damn good at it.

The element of debate is a hallmark of our country, from the time of Sam Adams. By the way, he was not named after the beer, the beer was named after him. So, if you learn nothing else from today, hang on to that.

But seriously, America has been that ‘safe space’ where truth can be spoken to power. Where ‘We the People’ can challenge a king and a corrupt idea like a monarchy. This right has been reaffirmed through our history. It’s been fought for, and people have died for it. We must understand that we have the right to free expression, not the right to not be offended. This fundamental difference is being lost on today’s college campuses.

We should not be teaching students to retreat from debate, but to charge intellectually into it. This is one of the most valuable and profound gifts given to us in the founding of America.” 

You can see Carolla’s full speech to Congress in the video below.