Anybody who follows the news is aware of the waning rights of free speech in the nation, particularly on university and college campuses. Once a hotbed of liberal and tolerant views on free speech, many campuses now aggressively work to stifle and censor speech they dislike or find “offensive.” Unfortunately, mob compulsion and restricting of speech is spilling over more and more into the wider culture.
Due to recent and troubling attacks against speech and the Bill of Rights, Civitas Institute hosted a discussion by Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham on their new book, “End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun). The event took place at the State Club on the campus of North Carolina State University on November 16.
Benson and Ham noted that attacks on free speech occur on both the political right and the left, but that the left has more resources through the media and institutions to create a “new cultural understanding of free speech,” which gives them greater control over what is “approved” speech. Mob bullying, compulsion, and threats, are increasingly common in America. One of the high profile cases they mentioned was the attacks against Brendan Eich, former Mozilla CEO and a co-founder in 2012. Eich was essentially forced to resign his position because he privately gave $1,000 to Proposition 8 in California, which defined marriage between a man and a woman.
Below is a clip of the two authors and commentators at the event in Raleigh:
“but that the left has more resources”
… isn’t that what NCCivtas is all about… let the markets make all the decisions!