Freedom of Expression Archives

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…

View Post

View Post

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.”…

View Post

View Post

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…

View Post

View Post

13 min

From Parrhesia to Freeze Peach: The Demotion of Free Speech

The enemies of intellectual liberty always try to present their case as a plea for discipline versus individualism.—George Orwell, 1946 Let’s start with a pop quiz: when he wrote his…

View Post

View Post

5 min

Politics

Free Speech in France and the Prophet Muhammad

On 16 October 2020, in France, schoolteacher Samuel Paty was murdered for showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The vast majority of French political leaders immediately declared their…

View Post

View Post

6 min

Philosophy

Academic Curiosity Under Threat

Desire to know why, and how, curiosity; such as is in no living creature but man: so that man is distinguished, not only by his reason, but also by this…

View Post

View Post

5 min

Culture & Media

Would Hunter S. Thompson Be Cancelled Today?

It’s a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.—Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine. The father of gonzo journalism was known for his uncompromising but…

View Post

View Post

7 min

Culture & Media

De Jure and De Facto Censorship: Why We Need to Be Concerned About Both

The last few weeks have seen dustups over the decision by the foundation overseeing Dr. Seuss’s works (i.e. Dr. Seuss Enterprises) to cease publication of six books deemed problematic, as…

View Post

View Post

10 min

Defending the Key Liberal Value: Andrew Doyle’s “Free Speech and Why It Matters”

I did not expect to enjoy Andrew Doyle’s Free Speech and Why it Matters. I like Andrew himself very much and our values closely align. However, I seem to be…

View Post

View Post

10 min

In Defence of Argument: “Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars” by Piers Benn

In the closing pages of Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars, Piers Benn writes: I was motivated to write this book because there was something that mattered to me, that…

View Post

View Post

7 min

Words Don’t Hurt, Ideas Do.

I am often told that, as a writer, I should recognize the power of words. As a crafter of poetry and prose, they tell me, surely I must understand the…

View Post

View Post

7 min

Culture & Media

Brave New Literary World

I recently saw a tweet by writer Thomas Chatterton Williams that said, “We are going to need very brave novelists again.” My first reaction was that he’s right. My second…

View Post

View Post

8 min

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…

View Post

View Post

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…

View Post

View Post

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.…

View Post

Freedom of Expression

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

Against the New Irish Hate Speech Bill

The Neuroscience of Intellectual Openness

From Parrhesia to Freeze Peach: The Demotion of Free Speech

Free Speech in France and the Prophet Muhammad

Academic Curiosity Under Threat

Would Hunter S. Thompson Be Cancelled Today?

De Jure and De Facto Censorship: Why We Need to Be Concerned About Both

Defending the Key Liberal Value: Andrew Doyle’s “Free Speech and Why It Matters”

In Defence of Argument: “Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars” by Piers Benn

Words Don’t Hurt, Ideas Do.

Brave New Literary World

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

New to Areo

Join the Discussion

Read by Category