by Robby Soave
If Zillennial activism’s illiberal tendencies are to be reined in, liberals will have to step up to the plate. Intellectual leaders who are still in relatively good standing with the left—a shrinking number, to be sure—need to persuade them that anti-free-speech extremism is self-defeating and counterproductive. Point out that when governments are empowered to trample individual rights—even out of a desire to do well by the marginalized—disaster results. Given the realities of the Trump years, a governmental initiative to curb hate speech wouldn’t be aimed at racial microaggressions—it would be used to punish NFL players who kneel during the anthem.
One of the most interesting arguments against free speech that I encountered in the wild while doing research for this book was the idea that free speech was impossible as long as power imbalances endured between any two people. Before society can enjoy free speech, it is first necessary to eliminate all inequities from society. After structural oppression has been defeated, then we can practice free speech.
My questions are these: How would we ever build a more equal society without free speech? How could we decide who needed a boost and who needed a penalty? What authority can be trusted with the adjudication of this transfer of power? The Trump administration? Tech giants? A university administration?
We need free speech because we still need to hash all of this out—because liberal norms of tolerance, civility, openness, individual rights, and freedom of expression are still the best tools we have for bettering our society. In these difficult conversations, everybody has a vested interest in participating—and that includes the left. Activists, you may not think it’s your job to educate me, but I invite you to try.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This little project took quite some time, and I am most grateful to my wife, Carrie, for helping me see it through. Caesar and Oliver, as well.
I would also like to thank my family—Ryan Soave, Kaitlin Soave, Stephanie Soave, Bob Soave, and all the Straszes—and a few close friends who served as sounding boards—Del Bodary, Pat Zabawa, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Asawin Suebsang, and Prateik Dalmia.
My colleagues at Reason magazine are experts at separating good ideas from bad, and I’m grateful for their advice—particularly my editors, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Peter Suderman, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch.
This book wouldn’t have been possible without the support of The Fund for American Studies. Thanks especially to Roger Ream and Daniel McCarthy. I should also recognize the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Charles Koch Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Student Free Press Association, and Students for Liberty; each of these groups has aided my professional endeavors tremendously.
Thanks as well to all those involved in the production of this book, specifically Wes Neff, Adam Bellow, Alan Bradshaw, and Ellis Levine.
A few others I need to mention: Lisa Kennedy, Lenore Skenazy, Emily Yoffe, Crystal Johns, and Linda LeFauve.
Last, I am eternally grateful to everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this project. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you to trust a stranger with your stories—particularly one you might view as an opponent. Be that as it may, I remain your most well-wishing adversary.
NOTES
*Please note the links referenced throughout this work may no longer be active.
PROLOGUE: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
1. Julie Rowe, “Elated Campus Erupts After Obama’s Historic Win,” Michigan Daily, November 5, 2008, https://www.michigandaily.com/content/2008-11-05/campus-erupts-after-obama-landslide.
2. Robby Soave, “Elite Campuses Offer Students Coloring Books, Puppies to Get over Trump,” Daily Beast, November 16, 2016, http://www.thedailybeast.com/elite-campuses-offer-students-coloring-books-puppies-to-get-over-trump.
3. David Burt, Drew Henderson, and Everett Rosenfeld, “On the Morning of Sept. 11, 2001…,” Yale Daily News, September 9, 2011, http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/09/09/on-the-morning-of-sept-11-2001.
4. Jennifer Kabbany, “Ivy League University Hosts Post-Election ‘Breathing Space’: Puppy Cuddling, Coloring, Chocolate,” College Fix, November 10, 2016, http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29898.
5. David Finkelhor, “Five Myths About Missing Children,” Washington Post, May 10, 2013, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-missing-children/2013/05/10/efee398c-b8b4-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html.
6. D’Vera Cohn et al., “Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since Peak; Public Unaware,” Pew Research Center, May 7, 2013, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware.
ONE: INTERSECTIONAL A.F.
1. Women’s March, “Our Mission,” https://www.womensmarch.com/mission1.
2. Shikha Dalmia, “The Pointless Women’s March Against Trump,” Reason, January 12, 2017, http://reason.com/archives/2017/01/12/the-pointless-upcoming-womens-march-agai.
3. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, “Women’s March Waffles on Sex-Worker Rights, Disinvites Women Who Oppose Abortion,” Reason, January 17, 2017, https://reason.com/blog/2017/01/17/womens-march-strikes-sex-worker-rights.
4. Emma Green, “These Pro-Lifers Are Headed to the Women’s March on Washington,” Atlantic, January 16, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/pro-lifers-womens-march/513104.
5. Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989: Is. 1, Article 8. Available at: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8.
6. DeGraffenreid v. General Motors Assembly Div., Etc., 413 F. Supp. 142 (E.D. Mo. 1976), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/413/142/1660699.
7. Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South (1892), https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/cooper/cooper.html.
8. “The Combahee River Collective Statement,” April 1977, http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html.
9. Patricia Hill Collins, Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism (New York: Routledge, 2004), 11.
10. Louis Peitzman, “Where ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Went Wrong,” BuzzFeed, July 11, 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/the-handmaids-tale-season-2-what-went-wrong.
11. C. Osler, “‘Fat Studies’ Embrace Diversity and Take on the Biases of Being Overweight,” USA Today College, February 22, 2016.
12. Course description for “Every Body Matters: Embracing Size Diversity,” Lindsey Schuhmacher, instructor, Portland State University, https://capstone.unst.pdx.edu/courses/every-body-matters-%E2%80%93-embracing-size-diversity.
13. Jade Pearl Frost, “Emerging Feminisms: When You’re Not Physically Masculine: Colorado College’s Body Privilege,” Feminist Wire, September 15, 2016, http://www.thefeministwire.com/2016/09/body-privilege.
14. Jeffrey Aaron Snyder and Amna Khalid, “The Rise of ‘Bias Response Teams’ on Campus,” New Republic, March 30, 2016, https://newrepublic.com/article/132195/rise-bias-response-teams-campus.
15. Derald Wing Sue et al., “Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice,” American Psychologist 62, no. 4 (2007): 271–86, https://world-trust.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/7-Racial-Microagressions-in-Everyday-Life.pdf.
16. Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “What Happens When Your Research Is Featured on ‘Fox and Friends,’” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 29, 2016, https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Happens-When-Your/236949.
17. Robby Soave, “Oberlin College Is Hiring Students to Be Social Justice Activists, Host Microaggression Training,” Reason, October 26, 2017, http://reason.com/blog/2017/10/26/oberlin-microaggressions-students.
18. Paul F. Campos,
“The Real Reason College Tuition Costs So Much,” New York Times, April 4, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-college-tuition-costs-so-much.html.
19. Mark J. Perry, “More on My Efforts to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and End Gender Discrimination in Michigan,” AE Ideas (blog), American Enterprise Institute, May 17, 2018, http://www.aei.org/publication/more-on-my-efforts-to-advance-diversity-equity-and-inclusion.
20. “The Top 10 Colleges with the Hottest Student Bodies, Ranked,” Maxim, January 27, 2017, https://www.maxim.com/women/college-hottest-girls-2017-1.
21. “Arizona State University,” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Arizona%20State%20University.
22. Katy Waldman, “The Trapdoor of Trigger Warnings,” Slate, Sepember 5, 2016, http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/cover_story/2016/09/what_science_can_tell_us_about _trigger_warnings.html.
23. Michael E. Miller, “Columbia Students Claim Greek Mythology Needs a Trigger Warning,” Washington Post, May 14, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/14/columbia-students-claim-greek-mythology-needs-a-trigger-warning.
24. Open letter by students of the Adalberto and Ana Guerrero Center, African American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific Student Affairs, LGBTQ Resource Center, Native American Student Affairs, the Women’s Resource Center, and others to the University of Arizona, March 8, 2016, available at https://d1ai9qtk9p41kl.cloudfront.net/assets/db/14576311585113.pdf.
25. Samantha Harris, “Think Trigger Warnings Are Never Mandatory on Campus? Think Again,” Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, August 31, 2016, https://www.thefire.org/think-trigger-warnings-are-never-mandatory-on-campus-think-again.
26. Nathan Heller, “The Big Uneasy,” New Yorker, May 30, 2016, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/the-new-activism-of-liberal-arts-colleges.
27. Elan Morgan, “21 Reasons Why It Is Not My Responsibility as a Marginalized Person to Educate You About My Experience,” Medium, August 30, 2014, https://medium.com/@schmutzie/why-it-is-not-my-responsibility-as-a-marginalized-individual-to-educate-you-about-my-experience-915b4ec08efd.
28. Hannah Wilder, “The Unicorn Ally,” Pyromaniac Harlot’s Blog, April 3, 2012, https://pyromaniacharlot.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-unicorn-ally.
29. https://twitter.com/kittypurrzog/status/1001922246460428288. No longer available online.
30. Kristin Lopez, “Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ and Hollywood’s Misunderstanding of Disability,” Daily Beast, July 6, 2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/marvels-ant-man-and-the-wasp-and-hollywoods-misunderstanding-of-disability-2.
31. Fredrik deBoer, “I’m Fed Up with Political Correctness, and the Idea That Everyone Should Already Be Perfect,” Quartz, January 29, 2015, https://qz.com/335941/im-fed-up-with-political-correctness-and-the-idea-that-everyone-should-already-be-perfect.
32. Andrew Sullivan, “Here Comes the Groom: A (Conservative) Case for Gay Marriage,” New Republic, August 28, 1989, https://newrepublic.com/article/79054/here-comes-the-groom.
33. Justin McCarthy, “Two in Three Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage,” Gallup, May 23, 2016, https://news.gallup.com/poll/234866/two-three-americans-support-sex-marriage.aspx.
34. James Kirchick, “Dykes vs. Kikes: Chicago’s Dyke March Targets LGBTQ Jews with Old-fashioned Anti-Semitism,” Tablet, June 26, 2017, https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/238762/dykes-vs-kikes.
35. Jewish Voice for Peace, “Linda Sarsour, a contributor to JVP book ‘On Antisemitism: Solidarity and the Struggle for Justice’” (video), Facebook, April 28, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/JewishVoiceforPeace/videos/10156056191824992.
36. “Petition for Accountability for DSA’s Medicare for All Campaign,” January 10, 2018, http://archive.is/iOj9Y#selection-155.0-155.185.
37. Bari Weiss, “When the Left Turns on Its Own,” New York Times, June 1, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-turns-on-its-own.html.
38. Dominic Holden, “Poll Finds Gay Men and Older LGBT People Are Most Opposed to a Brown Stripe in the Pride Flag to Represent People of Color,” BuzzFeed, June 28, 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/dominicholden/poll-finds-gay-men-and-older-lgbtq-people-are-most-opposed.
39. Elisa Chavez, “Revenge,” Seattle Review of Books, January 3, 2017, http://www.seattlereviewofbooks.com/notes/2017/01/03/revenge.
TWO: NAZI PUNCHING
1. Sean Langille, “Limo Torched in DC Protest Belongs to Muslim Immigrant, May Cost $70,000 in Damages,” Washington Examiner, January 23, 2017, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/limo-torched-in-dc-protests-belongs-to-muslim-immigrant-may-cost-70000-in-damages/article/2612747.
2. Philip Wegmann, “What I Saw at the Anti-Trump Riot in DC,” Washington Examiner, January 20, 2017, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/what-i-saw-at-the-anti-trump-riot-in-dc/article/2612548.
3. Natasha Lennard, “Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc,” The Nation, January 22, 2017, https://www.thenation.com/article/if-you-appreciated-seeing-neo-nazi-richard-spencer-get-punched-thank-the-black-bloc.
4. Carlos Lozada, “The History, Theory and Contradictions of Antifa,” Washington Post, September 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/09/01/the-history-theory-and-contradictions-of-antifa.
5. Omar Wasow, “Do Protests Matter? Evidence from the 1960s Black Insurgency,” Department of Politics, Princeton University, February 2, 2017, http://www.omarwasow.com/Protests_on_Voting.pdf.
6. Moises Velasquez-Manoff, “How to Make Fun of Nazis,” New York Times, August 17, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/opinion/how-to-make-fun-of-nazis.html.
7. Velasquez-Manoff, “How to Make Fun of Nazis.”
8. Graeme Wood, “His Kampf,” Atlantic, June 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/his-kampf/524505.
9. Jo Freeman, “A Short History of the University of California Speaker Ban,” 2000, http://www.jofreeman.com/sixtiesprotest/speakerban.htm.
10. Robert Cohen, “What Might Mario Savio Have Said About the Milo Protest at Berkeley?,” The Nation, February 7, 2017, https://www.thenation.com/article/what-might-mario-savio-have-said-about-the-milo-protest-at-berkeley.
11. Juniperangelica Xiomara Cordova-Goff, “Campus Must Prioritize Safety of Marginalized over Free Speech,” Daily Californian, May 1, 2017, http://www.dailycal.org/2017/05/01/399178.
12. “The GamerGate-Supporting Journalist Who Hates Gamers,” Storify, October 21, 2014, https://storify.com/x_glitch/the-gamergate-supporting-journalist-who-hates-game. (Storify has shut down; see https://www.salon.com/2014/10/28/gamergates_fickle_hero_the_dark_opportunism_of_breitbarts_milo_yiannopoulos/.)
13. Elliot Kaufman, “Campus Conservatives Gave the Alt-Right a Platform,” National Review, August 15, 2017, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450469/campus-conservative-organizations-alt-right-platform-free-speech-milo-yiannopoulos-charlottesville-terrorist-attack.
14. Robby Soave, “UC-Berkeley Protesters Set Campus on Fire, Shut Down Milo Yiannopoulos Event,” Reason, February 1, 2017, http://reason.com/blog/2017/02/01/uc-berkeley-protesters-set-campus-on-fir.
15. Vice News, “Campus Argument Goes Viral as Evergreen State Is Caught in Racial Turmoil (HBO),” YouTube, posted June 16, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cMYfxOFBBM.
16. Herbert Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance,” in Robert Paul Wolff, Barrington Moore Jr., and Herbert Marcuse, A Critique of Pure Tolerance (Boston: Beacon Press, 1965), http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/pubs/60spubs/1965MarcuseRepressiveToleranceEng1969ed Ocr.pdf.
17. Stephen R. C. Hicks, “Free Speech and Postmod
ernism,” http://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/hicks-freespeechpostmodernism.pdf.
18. Matt McManus, “Post-Postmodernism on the Left,” Quillette, June 13, 2018, https://quillette.com/2018/06/13/post-postmodernism-on-the-left.
19. Robby Soave, “End of History Author Francis Fukuyama Thinks Leftist Identity Politics Helped Create Trump,” Reason, August 31, 2018, https://reason.com/blog/2018/08/31/francis-fukuyama-identity-politics-trump.
20. Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___ (2017), https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-1293/opinion3.html.
