The Tyranny of Opinion Quotes

“Today, we each need to guard against various large and small Outrage Machines of the political Left. Otherwise, we can be shunned, harassed, dogpiled, smeared, publicly shamed, devastatingly labelled, falsely accused of wrongdoing, or otherwise hurt and harmed for trivial, dubious, or non-existent transgressions. Our good reputations can be destroyed, our jobs can be threatened or ended, and our careers can be ruined.”
― Russell Blackford, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism

“On such an approach, Mill argues, anyone could demand as a ‘social right’ that nobody act in any way falling short of her own standards of perfection. He sees this as a ‘monstrous’ principle with the potential to justify virtually any interference with individual liberty – ultimately leaving us no zone of freedom beyond, perhaps, ‘that of holding opinions in secret, without ever disclosing them’ (Mill [1859] 1974: 158).”
― Russell Blackford, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism

“Even more dangerous, perhaps, and certainly more difficult to understand or restrain, is a less overt, more insidious kind of tyranny: what Mill called ‘the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling’ ([1859] 1974:”
― Russell Blackford, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism

“I’ll defend the freedom to express our thoughts – though not an absolute freedom to attack each other verbally.”
― Russell Blackford, The Tyranny of Opinion: Conformity and the Future of Liberalism