Free Speech Archives

Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract

There have been some major shifts in US politics over the past few years. Once-sacrosanct ideas like free speech are now being dismissed as far-right. A desire for socialism is…

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11 min

Thank You for Offending Us: In Praise of Satirists

Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to see Men not afraid of God, afraid of me.—Alexander Pope, 1738 To function in society, we rely on our ability to…

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8 min

Features

Free Speech: Truth’s Only Ally

Despite our keen intelligence and irrepressible curiosity about the nature of the world in which we live, we humans are not primarily truth-seekers. We are a species of social ape,…

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13 min

The First Freedom: Free Speech: A History by Jacob Mchangama

In President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address, he spoke of a “world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere…

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8 min

Culture & Media

Censoring Joe Rogan

I remember when Joe Rogan was a just a weed-fuelled, combat-sports-obsessed podcast host mainly seen on YouTube—and not trending on CNN every month. However, he’s now a podcasting superstar with…

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1 min

Two for Tea Podcast

From Socrates to Social Media: In Conversation with Jacob Mchangama

In this week’s episode of our Two for Tea podcast, editor-in-chief Iona Italia talks to Jacob Mchangama about his ambitious new forthcoming book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.…

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4 min

Double Standards for Nadia Murad and Shamima Begum

Nadia Murad, who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, was only 19 in 2014, when Islamic State (ISIS) militants invaded her Yazidi village, Kocho, in northern Iraq. They killed all the…

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6 min

A Multicultural Psychologist’s Take on Free Speech

What is important in life? I think freedom of thought and expression must be among the top contenders. I’d like to share with you how two things contributed to this…

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7 min

Against the New Irish Hate Speech Bill

To the Irish Justice Ministry George Orwell once wrote that, “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”…

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10 min

Science & Tech

The Promotion of Ivermectin: A Free Speech Edge Case

Several recent exchanges about Covid-19 vaccination and a medication called Ivermectin—for example in a recent podcast hosted by Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying—have raised an important question: What responsibility, if…

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11 min

The Neuroscience of Intellectual Openness

How is it that some people feel energised by the thought of fierce debate and keen to have their beliefs challenged and their minds potentially changed, while others appear unwilling…

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4 min

Politics

The Golden Age of Slogans

Free speech suffocates when a requirement to parrot slogans constricts the free exchange of ideas and thoughts in the public square.

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13 min

Science & Tech

What Multilevel Selection Theory Tells Us About Free Speech

I’m guessing that most readers of this essay are unfamiliar with the theory its title refers to. That’s a pity, because multilevel selection (MLS) theory, which was developed to explain…

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12 min

The Right to Remain Silent

But the danger [here] of words in their theoretical insignificance is perhaps that they claim to evoke the annihilation where all sinks always, without hearing the “be silent” addressed to…

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10 min

The Lab Leak and Other Conspiracy Theories, Some Of Which Turned Out to Be True

Conspiracy theories are the new evil of our time—or so we thought. Over the past six months, there has been a unified drive from politicians and Big Tech to ban…

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Free Speech

Why Young Americans Are Rejecting the Social Contract

Thank You for Offending Us: In Praise of Satirists

Free Speech: Truth’s Only Ally

The First Freedom: Free Speech: A History by Jacob Mchangama

Censoring Joe Rogan

From Socrates to Social Media: In Conversation with Jacob Mchangama

Double Standards for Nadia Murad and Shamima Begum

A Multicultural Psychologist’s Take on Free Speech

Against the New Irish Hate Speech Bill

The Promotion of Ivermectin: A Free Speech Edge Case

The Neuroscience of Intellectual Openness

The Golden Age of Slogans

What Multilevel Selection Theory Tells Us About Free Speech

The Right to Remain Silent

The Lab Leak and Other Conspiracy Theories, Some Of Which Turned Out to Be True

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