The Real Reason Cancel Culture is Rejecting “Harry Potter”
The obsession of the supporters of cancel culture with J. K. Rowling stems from the fact that they can no longer comprehend—and therefore cannot accept—the darkest elements of the human…
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“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States considers the history of the US from the perspective of the underdog: the lower classes, workers, women, immigrants, African slaves and their…
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The Woke Left’s Self-Contradictory Ideas About Language
Despite the ongoing debates over cancel culture, many people still have not quite grasped what is going on. Most of us can tell that something illiberal and censorious is happening…
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The Spectre of Atheism: “Leaving the Allah Delusion Behind” by Ibn Warraq
The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of…
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James Baldwin’s Ambiguous Legacy
Whether it is conservatives using Martin Luther King Jr.’s colorblind principles to argue against progressive anti-racism, while ignoring his condemnations of white moderates, or leftists using the legacy of Frederick…
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Is Biden’s Climate Change Plan a Step in the Right Direction?
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has recently unveiled his approach to climate change: his “plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice.” The plan calls for $2 trillion…
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A Spectacular Theory of Today’s Woke Advertising
Many companies have recently switched from aspirational to woke advertising—and a surprising number of them are engaging in self-satire and even self-abnegation as they do so. From Gillette, with its…
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Racism: Results From a National US Study
An Asian American woman has reported that, after she coughed while waiting in line, a man behind her told her, “Watch it, chink.” A Chinese American doctor reports being followed…
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Self-Cancel Culture and the Threat of Moderate Wokeness
Liberalism’s defenders usually describe illiberalism as comprised of two distinct threats: the authoritarian right and the culturally totalitarian left. However, this framing misrepresents the situation. The dangers posed by the…
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Possible Conversations
Letter is a public platform for one-on-one letter exchanges. We have recently completed an Impossible Conversations competition, in which the judges—Heather Heying, Russ Roberts, John Wood jr. and our own…
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Educating Students to Debate Complex Topics
Given that so many students are now studying STEM subjects, our children might appear well placed to debate complex, interdisciplinary issues that require knowledge of science. However, STEM education has…
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The Pivotal Irony of American Racism
Is the problem of American racism structural or personal? Is racism a significant problem in the United States? Are the problems of the black community in particular a reflection of…
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What Cancel Culture Is Not
If you have a social media account, you must certainly have come across the phrase cancel culture. It describes the act of collectively unsubscribing from a person, the way you…
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The Problem with the Concept of Cancel Culture
The phrase cancel culture has been all over the internet over the past few weeks. The publication of the Harper’s letter defending free speech and a number of high profile…
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Systemic Racism on Campus? The Cautionary Tale of Joanne St. Lewis v. Denis Rancourt
The term systemic racism refers to institutions, procedures or processes that, whether by design or by effect, produce discriminatory or unequal outcomes or result in injustices disproportionately affecting an identifiable…
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Why Do Anti-Racists Give China a Free Pass?
Since the appalling killing of George Floyd in late May and the nationwide protests that followed, a growing number of Americans have been calling for a national reckoning on race.…
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Statue Switcheroo: Monumental Figures, Radical Politics and History
Call me a squishy centrist, but, while I think monuments to Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and King Leopold don’t deserve to stand in perpetuity, I sympathize with arguments that…
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A Therapist’s Plea for Freedom of Speech
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.—Frederick Douglass. The single best predictor of a positive…
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