Canceled for writing about cancel culture? And why we are willing to ‘Drive this bus into a wall.'
Bringing you the latest free speech news (3/9/2024)
Stories of the week
My “Canceling of the American Mind” co-author
was just canceled from SXSW: I was canceled by trendy South by Southwest film festival bosses … for criticizing cancel culture
It appears that I’ve been canceled … for speaking up about cancel culture.
Organizers of the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival declined to approve my participation in a panel of speakers.
The reason? Concern that I’d dared to speak out against cancel culture.
An email from SXSW staff, shared with me by the panel’s organizer, reveals the festival was “hesitant to approve” my participation because my commentary has been “focused on the idea of cancel culture.”
Oh, the irony!
A profile of yours truly in The Hill! Protecting free speech on campus from attacks from both sides
“We knew that this would be a case so unpopular, that it might very well lead to the failure of FIRE because, essentially, we knew that at that young age, defending someone that unpopular, that might mean that nobody would want to donate to us anymore,” he added.
“And we said, ‘OK if this is the end at the beginning, we can live with that,’ and had a motto come out of it that said, ‘We’d rather crash this bus into a wall rather than be unprincipled.’”
This week in ERI
Last month, FIRE released its Campus Deplatforming Database, an expansion and evolution of its previous Campus Disinvitation Database. In addition to tracking attempts to disinvite speakers from campus, this enhanced database now includes attempts to cancel performances, take down art exhibits, and prevent the screening of films. It spans the past two and half decades, with recorded attempts going all the way back to the heyday of the Backstreet Boys, 1998.
A broad analysis and overview of the deplatforming attempts reveals a number of troubling findings.
This week in FIRE’s blog
American University silent amid concerns over sweeping speech bans by Leslie Corbly
Amy Wax hearing report confirms fears over erosion of academic freedom at Penn by
Statement on FIRE’s emergency SCOTUS petition in West Texas A&M lawsuit
State AGs ignore First Amendment, lean on YouTube to remove label on abortion video by Aaron Terr
‘Canceling of the American Mind’ in the news!
Rikki and I spoke at the Cornell Free Speech Alliance on Tuesday night, and I got to rant a bit about free speech, academic freedom and elite higher ed as a mechanism for replicating class privilege:
First Amendment News
Stephen Rohde, review essay: Is ‘hate speech’ free speech? – First Amendment News 414 by Ronald K. L. Collins
TV show of the month
Station Eleven: “To monsters, we’re the monsters.” An HBO limited series based on a post-apocalyptic novel (note: thanks to a reader who pointed out it featured but was not based on a comic book), and simply one of the best things I've seen on television in the past five years — streaming now on Max!
"Cancelling" is the opposite of "thinking".
“Station Eleven: “To monsters, we’re the monsters.” An HBO limited series based on a post-apocalyptic comic book”
Or alternatively a series based on a beautifully written novel *featuring* a comic book. I do indeed recommend the novel.