Free Speech
Cancel Culture Has a Lot to Answer For
Sometimes our most precious cultural institutions fail to live up to their high educational and moral commitments and responsibilities. These failures especially damage the social fabric because they tend to harm many people who rely on them and tarnish the high ideals that the institutions claim to exemplify. An incident
The Good Death—Cancel Culture and the Logic of Torture
Cancellation is a public execution, during which a person is pilloried and destroyed. But while we have become used to the cycle of manufactured outrage that preludes every cancellation, the desperate public apologies, and the devastating consequences for the people whose lives are ruined, we are often at a loss
Inflammatory Anti-Racism
In 2020, mid-COVID, the UK's Orwell book prize was awarded to the British writer Kate Clanchy for her memoir, Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me. It was based on Clanchy’s experience of teaching in state schools, and among her pupils had been many students of colour
Political Correctness: A Sociocultural Black Hole—A Review
A review of Political Correctness: A Sociocultural Black Hole, by Thomas Tsakalakis. Routledge, 164 pages. (October 2020) How would a pacifist react to the display of war-time paraphernalia such as torpedoes turned into rusty vases or hand grenades filled with soap? He would most likely find it appalling, fascist, and
Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind
The following is an excerpt from Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind, by Hrishikesh Joshi. Routledge, 196 pages. (March 2021) The division of cognitive labor Modern society is only possible because of the division of labor. Without division of labor, the most we could achieve is a very
The Prophet of Dystopia at Rest: Margaret Atwood in Cuba
Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it. ~Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale As a Cuba scholar, a student of literature and politics, and an enthusiastic reader of Margaret Atwood’s work, I have collected articles and media clips over the years related to
Standing Up to the Gender Ideologues: a Quillette Editorial
On June 23rd, Britain’s Royal Academy of Arts put out a carefully worded five-paragraph media statement regarding German-born textile artist Jess de Wahls. “We have apologised to Jess de Wahls for the way we have treated her and do so again publicly now,” read the RA communiqué. “We had
A Conversation with Daniel Elder, the Choral Music Composer Who Was Cancelled for Opposing Arson
On May 30th, 2020, amid an anti-police-brutality protest in Nashville, TN, several white protesters allegedly attempted to burn down the city’s Metro Courthouse. In response, choral music composer Daniel Elder, who lives nearby, wrote an Instagram post that read, “Enjoy burning it all down, you well-intentioned, blind
