Come see me in VA! Amy Wax debates! Guernica Guernicas itself! AND MORE!
Bringing you the latest free speech news (3/31/2024)
Upcoming event!
I’ll be talking about ‘The Canceling of the American Mind’ at the Salamander Resort in Middleburg, VA on Thursday! Come for the conversation, hors d'oeuvres, wine & champagne and leave with a signed copy of ‘Canceling’!
https://salamanderresort.com/activities/authors
Story of the week
America’s censors have committed their Guernica (UnHerd) by Kat Rosenfeld
In truth, the most interesting thing about Guernica‘s collapse is how familiar its contours seem. The substance of the controversy changes, but its shape remains the same. There was the cherry-picking of one allegedly offensive line — in this case, Chen grimacing as a friend tried to comfort her children by describing the sounds of rocket fire as “good booms” — which was then repeated ad nauseam, like a magic password that allowed critics to condemn the essay while bypassing any actual engagement with its content.
This week in ERI
International free speech stories of the week
Hong Kongers Are Purging the Evidence of Their Lost Freedom (NYT) by Maya Wang
Hong Kong was once a place where people did not live in fear. It had rule of law, a rowdy press and a semi-democratic legislature that kept the powerful in check. The result was a city with a freewheeling energy unmatched in China. Anyone who grew up in China in the 1980s and 1990s could sing the Cantopop songs of Hong Kong stars like Anita Mui, and that was a problem for Beijing: Freedom was glamorous, desirable.
Threats, fear and surveillance: how Beijing targets students in the UK who criticise regime (The Guardian) by Jessie Lau
The first time Liying* realised she was being watched, she was on her way home from an anti-Beijing protest outside the Chinese embassy in London in 2022. The sky was dark, and Liying – a student in her 20s from China – was walking with a fellow protester, megaphone in hand, when she noticed a stranger lurking behind them.
This week in FIRE’s blog
FIRE statement on Gov. Abbott’s campus anti-Semitism executive order
May public officials block critics on social media? It depends, says the Supreme Court by Bob Corn-Revere
Cornell concedes small changes to otherwise substantially restrictive new speech policies by Jesse Appleby
New Florida law restricts First Amendment rights online by Greg Gonzalez
‘Canceling of the American Mind’ in the news
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining the Cato Daily podcast to talk ‘Canceling.’ Check out the newly-released conversation here.
And just this week, I was interviewed by Dr. Drew about ‘Canceling’ and free speech more broadly. Enjoy!
London Calling: Ronnie’s First Amendment Rundown
Can’t say it better than the court itself, willing to call a fig a fig and a trough a trough in disposing of the claims in X Corp. v. Center for Countering Digital Hate, Inc.: “Sometimes it is unclear what is driving a litigation …. Other times, a complaint is so unabashedly and vociferously about one thing that there can be no mistaking that purpose. This case represents the latter circumstance. This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech.” Full text below:
Debate of the month
FIRE hosted a debate between Penn professors Amy Wax and Jonathan Zimmerman this past Thursday on the question, “How appropriate are curricular constraints on K-12 and/or higher education?” For your viewing pleasure!
How easily Hong Kong met it's demise is foreboding.
Thank you for leading the charge against the black curtain.
It is shocking to me that Zimmerman views the 1619 Project as an authentic curriculum - he keeps saying facts matter and that project has been uniformly dismissed by noted history scholars on left right and middle because it is so riddled with opinion and not facts including the suggested founding of the nation.