Free Speech

Politics

The Soft Mob: Intolerance and the New Definition of “Harm”

In the festival of non-sequiturs that was the reaction to the Harper’s letter, two equally specious rebuttals rose to the fore: the first, that freedom of expression has become a…

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5 min

Politics

Hobbes, Locke and Mill: In Defence of Tolerance

The traditional liberal call that we should extend tolerance to our opponents has been replaced by a demand for recognition and acceptance that is paradoxically intolerant towards those who do…

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8 min

Politics

What Yoram Hazony Gets Wrong About Cancel Culture

The open letter in Harper’s Magazine on the dangers of ideological conformity and the suppression of speech, signed by more than 150 leading writers and intellectuals, has been explosively controversial.…

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10 min

Politics

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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8 min

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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6 min

Psychology

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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6 min

Culture & Media

The Historian Who Came in from the Chill

I am in the sunset of life, and I feel it to be my special mission to tell people what they are not prepared to hear.—Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth Cady…

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6 min

Are Calls for Open Debate Too Little Too Late?

In Harper’s Magazine this past week over 150 prominent intellectuals and bestselling authors, such as Malcolm Gladwell, J. K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky and others signed a letter that…

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3 min

Politics

Open Letters in the Age of the Cultural Commissar

This week, Harper’s magazine published “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate.” The letter contains a reaffirmation of liberal values: a commitment to open debate, a refusal to ostracize others…

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7 min

Generalisations, Complicity and Jeff Goldblum

Image by Gage Skidmore Yesterday, Jeff Goldblum sparked controversy by asking Jackie Cox, a hijab-wearing contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, whether there was something about Islam that was anti-woman and…

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5 min

Politics

Is France Charlie?

France has been a crucible of radical philosophy since the eighteenth century, and was the pre-eminent centre for the arts in the nineteenth and twentieth. It was France to which…

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13 min

Politics

Some Thoughts on Christopher Hitchens

“Ladies and gentlemen. Brothers and sisters. Comrades. Friends. Thanks for coming out.” Thus began Christopher Hitchens, as was his custom, speaking from behind a lectern facing a standing-room-only audience. They…

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23 min

Threats to Free Speech at University, and How to Deal with Them—Part 1

Free speech is arguably the most important value for universities to uphold. As Steven Pinker points out in an essay aptly tilted Why Free Speech is Fundamental, “the very thing…

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6 min

Politics

Enforcing Patriotism, Suppressing Dissent: America’s Neglected Free Speech Crisis

Picture this. Students in schools paid for with tax dollars are ordered to stand as a sign of respect for the federal government. If they sit or kneel, they face…

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Free Speech

The Soft Mob: Intolerance and the New Definition of “Harm”

Hobbes, Locke and Mill: In Defence of Tolerance

What Yoram Hazony Gets Wrong About Cancel Culture

Self-Cancel Culture and the Threat of Moderate Wokeness

The Problem with the Concept of Cancel Culture

A Therapist’s Plea for Freedom of Speech

The Historian Who Came in from the Chill

Are Calls for Open Debate Too Little Too Late?

Open Letters in the Age of the Cultural Commissar

Generalisations, Complicity and Jeff Goldblum

Is France Charlie?

Some Thoughts on Christopher Hitchens

Threats to Free Speech at University, and How to Deal with Them—Part 1

Enforcing Patriotism, Suppressing Dissent: America’s Neglected Free Speech Crisis

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