The Importance of Having a Good Conversation

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I don't want people deciding for me what I can hear. There seems to be increasingly, a belief that the words we use by saying a certain thing that causes you to think it rather than vice versa. And I find that a really extraordinary way of thinking. For example, I'm not interested in whether or not people say the N word and I actually don't mind saying it, but I'm not going to say it here in your podcast. Because I just think there's nothing magic about a set of syllables like that. What I want is for people not to have racist feelings about black people. But it's not about the word itself. It's about the sentiment behind it

When is a certain speech act an opinion versus a call to action? Does that distinction matter for censorship purposes? Why does it seem that human behavior tends towards censorship rather than towards freedom of expression? Is feeling emotionally or politically harmed a valid reason for censoring certain speech acts? Will it always be the case that, given enough time, truth will win out over ignorance, bullshit, misinformation, and lies? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for creating a society in which truth wins at the end of the day? Why are citizens so often attracted to populist and/or fascist ideologies and political parties? What value does religion provide to a society?

Iona Italia is the editor-in-chief of Areo Magazine and the host of its Two for Tea podcast. Iona is the author of two books: Anxious Employment (a study of eighteenth-century essayists) and Our Tango World (sociological and philosophical musings on dance and life). She holds a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University and publishes weekly creative non-fiction pieces on her Substack, The Second Swim. Her background includes a decade in academe and a 12-year career as a tango dancer and teacher. Iona lives in London with four old friends. She loves dancing, running, choral singing, chess, dogs, and sci-fi.

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