Passion for Equality
by Mark MovsesianFear of hurt feelings may be the biggest driver of public opinion on sexuality-related court decisions. Continue Reading »
Campus Moralism, Old and New
by Connor GrubaughThe question is not what makes free speech, but what makes good speech. Continue Reading »
The Revolution Eats One of Its Own Midwives
by Carl R. TruemanVeteran human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell finds himself on the receiving end of the world he unwittingly helped to create. Continue Reading »
Rights Talk, Majority Tyranny, and the Harms We “See”
by James R. RogersContinuing arguments over gun rights and violence brought to mind Tocqueville’s observation that he knew “no country where there prevails, in general, less independence of mind and less true freedom of discussion than in America.” This, for Tocqueville, occurred because “In America, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Georgetown and the Death of Moral Discourse
by Carl R. TruemanRecent events at Georgetown University are symptomatic of the degeneration of moral discourse in America. Continue Reading »
The Student Speech Police
by Mark BauerleinWe have a strange transformation taking place on campus today. Back in the ‘60s, at Berkeley and elsewhere, students formed Free Speech Movements and struck down one propriety and norm after another. Continue Reading »
In Praise of Folly
by Carl R. TruemanThe reactions to the attack on Charlie Hebdo highlight the odd affinity between the left and radical Islam and also draw attention to the unsung—and Augustinian—champions of liberal democracy: Satirists. Continue Reading »
My Life With Charlie Hebdo
by Eve-Alice RoustangAs a student at the Sorbonne in my early twenties, back in the mid 1990s, every Wednesday before hitting the subway I would buy Charlie Hebdo. I was young, I was studying French literature in the course of becoming a teacher, and Charlie Hebdo was a weekly break from the classics. I didn’t pay much attention to the politics, which were far left. My friends and I would discuss the drawings, our favorite part of the magazine: “This one is perfect!” “Right on!” “And this one! Poor [insert name of politician]! They really got him!” “But Charb exaggerates in this one—it’s just mean.” Continue Reading »
How Identity Politics Don’t Allow Debate
by Carl R. Trueman An assault on free speech at an institute of higher education highlights both the power of rhetoric and the convenient philosophical inconsistency of identity politics.
Continue Reading »
A Terrible Ruling Against a Terrible Film
by Gabriel RossmanIt may seem hard to get upset that the Ninth Circuit recently demanded that YouTube take down The Innocence of Muslims, a poorly made, maliciously offensive, and aesthetically nil film that was the proximate cause for rioting and murder overseas. Little as I will miss it, the ruling has troubling . . . . Continue Reading »
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