Reading Time: 6 minutes When American university and college students try to deny “free speech” platforms to arch-conservative opinion leaders they consider dangerous purveyors of bigotry, or just shout them down, right-wing complaints of suppression are swift and virulent. The constant trope is that American higher education institutions are controlled by “woke,” “liberal” academics and students who want to […]
free speech
Posted inTech
Is social media the cigarette of the 21st century?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Like tobacco companies that made their products addictive on purpose, the drive for ever more “engagement” on social media pushes it to appeal to our worst tendencies.
Posted inReligious News
How a Pennsylvania school board turned a proposal for an ‘After School Satan Club’ into a witch hunt
Reading Time: 5 minutes The school board meeting that took place in York County, Pennsylvania this past Tuesday, April 19th, had the feel of a puritan village witch trial. National media coverage reported on the school board’s ultimate 8 to 1 vote against allowing the formation of one of The Satanic Temple’s “After School Satan Clubs” in their district, […]
Posted inCulture
Why Chris Rock needs to file charges against Will Smith
Reading Time: 2 minutes Will Smith lost his cool at the Oscars last night, and while we aren’t defined by our worst moments, we should reap the consequences of them.
Posted inLaw
Turns out, falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater may be okay
Reading Time: 6 minutes “It’s Time to Stop Using the ‘Fire in a Crowded Theater’ Quote.” This headline over a 2012 opinion piece in The Atlantic magazine concluded—wrongly, I think—that opinionators and random others had erroneously applied the famous quote to free-speech debates for decades and should stop. In fact, this most common interpretation of the quote is absolutely […]
Posted inCulture
The important distinctions we’re missing in the free speech debates
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the mid-19th century, minstrel shows were all the rage across America. White actors would wear black grease paint on their faces and act out stock caricatures of Black people who were lazy, stupid, and hypersexualized. These cartoonish, demeaning, and dehumanizing portrayals were wildly successful commercially, spreading through both North and South as entertainment for […]
Posted inUncategorized
Hurrah for Liberals: Free Speech and Free Press
Reading Time: 6 minutes By James A. Haught Many atheists also are progressive “social justice warriors” striving to make life better and more equal for everyone. They include Daylight Atheism contributor James Haught. Here’s a chapter from his 2016 book, Hurrah for Liberals. Free speech and free press mean the same thing: the right to voice any beliefs or […]
Posted inUncategorized
Conservatives Hate Critical Race Theory, Whatever That Is
Reading Time: 6 minutes The American right wants to ban critical race theory, which they use as an umbrella term for anything and everything that makes white conservatives angry.
Posted inNews
GETTR free speech platform that actually works, Mr Miller
Reading Time: 4 minutes THE half-man, half-melon pictured above is a former Trump aide Jason Miller who used the Fourth of July to officially launch a YUGE new platform with a promise of unfettered free speech to American conservatives. An introductory message on the home page of GETTR, according to Mother Jones, says: Welcome to GETTR and start a […]
Posted inNews
Leading Irish atheist wades into the Dawkins disinvitation row
Reading Time: 4 minutes THE CHAIR of Atheist Ireland Michael Nugent has written to the Historical Society at Trinity College Dublin, known as the Hist, asking it to reconsider its recent decision to drop Professor Richard Dawkins from its 2021 list of speakers because his presence could make students uncomfortable. Auditor of the Hist Bríd O’Donnell announced the cancellation […]