Freedom from Speech Quotes

“Though often used interchangeably, the concept of freedom of speech and the First Amendment are not the same thing. While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press as they relate to duties of the state and state power, freedom of speech is a far broader idea that includes additional cultural values. These values incorporate healthy intellectual habits, such as giving the other side a fair hearing, reserving judgment, tolerating opinions that offend or anger us, believing that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and recognizing that even people whose points of view we find repugnant might be (at least partially) right.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“Rather than teaching students to be skeptical of confirmation bias, we appear to be teaching them to have an expectation of confirmation: a sense of entitlement to an environment in which their beliefs are not contradicted (at least not too harshly). Expectation of confirmation is yet another manifestation of the desire for intellectual comfort, and it is also likely to increase over time.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“these self-righteous censors often construct a “hero narrative” about themselves in which they are morally pure crusaders who must protect society from the objectionable opinions of the unenlightened masses.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“This is precisely what you would expect when you train a generation to believe that they have a right not to be offended. Eventually, they stop demanding freedom of speech and start demanding freedom from speech.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“Worse still are those who come to see themselves as defenders of the feelings of others, even when such help is not requested or desired.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“Worse still are those who come to see themselves as defenders of the feelings of others, even when such help is not requested or desired. As I discuss in Unlearning Liberty, these self-righteous censors often construct a “hero narrative” about themselves in which they are morally pure crusaders who must protect society from the objectionable opinions of the unenlightened masses.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“I believe we are facing a long-term threat to freedom of speech that is much more substantial than the expansion of “liberal groupthink” or “political correctness” from campus.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“intellectual comfort is as dangerous as it is seductive.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“Otherwise, we risk squandering the opportunity to work with our natural allies (in this case at least) – university professors – to oppose the push toward elevating intellectual comfort over intellectual growth.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“Sarah Roff, a psychiatrist who specializes in the mental effects of trauma (including flashbacks and panic attacks), explained that training students to avoid certain topics can be quite detrimental: One of the cardinal symptoms of PTSD is avoidance, which can become the most impairing symptom of all. If someone has been so affected by an event in her life that reading a description of a rape in Ovid’s Metamorphoses can trigger nightmares, flashbacks, and panic attacks, she is likely to be functionally impaired in areas of her life well beyond the classroom. The solution is not to help these students dig themselves further into a life of fear and avoidance.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“The rules of political correctness seem to counsel against responding with the real answer: that college is where you are supposed to learn about the world as it truly is, which includes covering some horrific and dreadful topics. This endeavor should make anyone with a conscience uncomfortable at times, but that discomfort is a necessary part of real, adult-level education.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“In his excellent 2012 book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt explored the foundations of human morality and tried to determine how they cohere and from where they originate. He concluded that political conservatives have multiple sources for their moral norms that include the values of traditional societies around the world, such as sacredness, loyalty, and respect for authority. In contrast, Haidt wrote, American liberals and progressives primarily emphasize the “care ethic,” whereby one’s analysis of the morality of an issue begins and ends with whether or not the proposed action demonstrates care for the well-being or feelings of others, with particular focus on the needs of a relatively large category of people defined as “victims.” As progressive author and professor George Lakoff put it in The Political Mind, “Behind every progressive policy lies a single moral value: empathy.” Lakoff’s assertion lends support to Haidt’s argument that progressive morality is largely one-dimensional, driven primarily by the care ethic.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

“First of all, placing a premium on intellectual comfort is at odds with the three great pillars of the modern world that Jonathan Rauch discussed in his 1993 masterpiece Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought. These pillars are democracy (how we determine who gets to wield legitimate state power), capitalism (how we determine the allocation of wealth), and the intellectual system that Rauch dubbed liberal science (how we determine what is true). As Rauch put it, liberal science is the idea that the “checking of each by each through public criticism is the only legitimate way to decide who is right.” Such checking and criticism cannot occur without creating intellectual discomfort. In fact, all three pillars rely on competition – often fierce competition – which, by nature, is not particularly comfortable. For liberal science to thrive, it must take place in an environment where the right to dissent is protected – an environment of free speech and inquiry.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech