The video: CNN's Anderson Cooper grilled Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell this week about his personal blog, which is entirely dedicated to posts about Chris Armstrong, the University of Michigan's first openly gay student body president. (See video below.) Shirvell, a Michigan alum, accuses Armstrong of trying to impose a "radical homosexual agenda" on the school. His blog has featured photos of Armstrong with the word "resign" written across his face, and a rainbow flag with a swastika superimposed on it. Cooper suggests Shirvell's campaign is inappropriate and borders on cyberbullying. "You're a state official, this is a college student," Cooper says. "What are you doing?"
The reaction: Shirvell's "vitriolic blog postings" might very well qualify as cyberbullying, says Jonathan Capehart at The Washington Post, except that Michigan has no cyberbullying law. "What's stunning is his total lack of judgment" along with "his seeming inability to understand how, well, strange his actions are." Plenty of people find Shirvell's views "offensive," says Alix Kemp at The Gateway, but "he has as much right to express them" as anyone else. Some have called for him to be "unceremoniously sacked," but that would turn a bizarre, petty spat into an assault on freedom of speech. Watch a clip from the interview:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion banSpeed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling BiblesSpeed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitnessIn Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
