Conversations with Peter Boghossian Free Speech Makes Free People w/Greg Lukianoff
Sep 6, 2024
Greg Lukianoff, an advocate for free speech and head of FIRE, dives deep into the current landscape of free expression in academia. He discusses the troubling normalization of violence among students and how it threatens open discourse. The conversation highlights the complex relationship between mental health and free speech on college campuses, urging for a balanced approach. Lukianoff also critiques the ideological capture of teacher’s unions and calls for urgent reforms to protect academic freedom and integrity.
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The Coddling of the American Mind's Core Message
- Stop teaching young people to think like anxious, depressed people.
- Catastrophizing is a cognitive distortion that breeds misery, hindering effective activism.
Free Speech: A Nuanced Concept
- People naturally want free speech for themselves, but granting it to others is a more complex concept.
- It involves understanding that decentralized systems, like free speech, yield better outcomes.
Origins of the Free Speech Rankings
- Greg Lukianoff and Nico Perino, inspired by restrictive campus experiences, launched the Free Speech Rankings project.
- Their goal was to quantify the state of free speech on college campuses after feeling like they were in "East Berlin".