Reframing Anxiety as the Exciting Opportunity to Support the Eternally Radical Idea of Free Speech

Greg Lukianoff offers a history lesson starting with Henry VIII's battle with the effects of the printing press. He then turns his attention toward those who seek censorship as the remedy for feeling anxious at ever-new revelations that many of our institutions (including colleges) are dysfunctional, even corrupted to such an extent that they are betraying their stated missions:

What’s happening now is why the free and open exchange of ideas will always be radical. Yes, what the future is going to look like seems a lot less clear. Yes, we’re living through a crisis of authority. Yes, we’re questioning the legitimacy and necessity of our institutions. But those institutions and authorities don't deserve our blind loyalty. And they showed their cards when they went after the eternally radical idea — when they answered “the problem” of free speech with new speech codes, byzantine taboos, and cancellation campaigns.

The institutions and individuals that stand the test of this era will be those who show integrity and principle, those who tell the truth even when it’s inconvenient or unpopular. That’s what happened in the Enlightenment with figures like Voltaire and Diderot, Smith and Hume, Franklin and Madison. It’s also what we’re seeing now on platforms like Substack, where individuals and institutions with integrity and courage are finding new ways to lead.

I’m proud to say that FIRE is one of those institutions. We've had the courage to be non-partisan in a partisan world. Through all the tumult, we’ve defended free speech, free inquiry, and the free press for all — even at the cost of some uncomfortable Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Democratic principles become even more essential during times of crisis, not less. History shows us that these principles are not luxuries. No, they are the foundations of a successful and dynamic society. The Enlightenment didn’t feel like the Enlightenment when it started. To most people, it probably felt like blasphemy, heresy, and chaos. And to Henry VIII, it probably felt like quite a bit of nasty gossiping.

But freedom always feels a little scary. Free speech is the eternally radical idea, after all.

Here’s a cognitive hack I like to teach my kids: you can reconceptualize fear as excitement. And remember, I have a well-documented history of dealing with anxiety. I know what I’m talking about here. So while I don’t blame anyone for feeling anxious right now, I also hope they feel exhilarated. What’s happening in this moment is thrilling: It is the chance to reexamine everything we thought we knew.

I invite you to read Lukianoff's full essay, "Institutional decay, Henry VIII’s big fat libido, and the eternally radical idea: When you add billions of eyes to the problems of the world, the result is not just noise but incredible breakthroughs."

Continue ReadingReframing Anxiety as the Exciting Opportunity to Support the Eternally Radical Idea of Free Speech

Tulsi Gabbard’s Indictment of the US Deep State

Tulsi Gabbard's opening indictment of the US deep state is spot on and factually uncontroversial, yet it will infuriate those who have have decided that their tribe is more important than their duty to think for themselves, Like so many others (including me), Tulsi was a longtime Democrat who became disgusted at the corruption of the Democratic party.

And for those who haven't yet seen Chuck Schumer's statement:

Continue ReadingTulsi Gabbard’s Indictment of the US Deep State

Václav Havel: The Sickness of Being Unwilling to Say What One is Thinking

Douglas Murray, discussing The 1989 Address of the newly elected Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel:

The central theme of the essay...is that truth is inescapable. We can run away from the truth; we can pretend that lies are facts; we can pretend that there is no such thing as objective reality. But reality always manages to force its way into our consciousness. The dissident does not really choose to become a dissident. Dissidence is forced upon a person, born from a painful but unavoidable tension with the external world, an awareness of the suffocating, subjugating power of myth.

“The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment,” Havel said in his 1990 address. “We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in anything, to ignore one another, to care only about ourselves.”

The most devastating effect of this contamination, Havel explained, is a melting away of real emotions and relationships—a grotesque atomization that leaves us feeling deeply alone, misunderstood, frightened.

“Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or forgiveness lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us they represented only psychological peculiarities, or they resembled gone-astray greetings from ancient times, a little ridiculous in the era of computers and spaceships,” he added.

Continue ReadingVáclav Havel: The Sickness of Being Unwilling to Say What One is Thinking