Art From the Ashes

For FAIR’s Substack, Mary McDonald-Lewis writes about speaking up, being silenced, and surviving serial cancellations.

And sadly, recent history shows us these houndings don’t cease. My cancellation in 2019 eventually went quiet—but it was not the end of my persecution, just merely a pause. The leftists waited until I had made something small, delicate, and beautiful, and then they burned it to the ground. There’s no indication they will ever stop.
What I wish those around all women enduring this would grok is that this is not normal. This is not how civil society works. It is cruel and unusual punishment. As Lindsay puts it, “I do not think the harms ... [are] something any woman should become wholly used to. I would worry should these experiences come to be viewed as normal. ... That we are all in it together is some comfort, though few of us ... have come through it with our mental well-being wholly unscathed.”

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Are we addicted to conflict?

For The Bigger Picture, cross-published to FAIR’s Substack, FAIR executive director Monica Harris writes about breaking free from our conflict addiction.

I think the first step requires us to recognize the pattern we’re trapped in.
We need to celebrate our victories instead of immediately moving the goalposts. Acknowledging our success doesn’t require us to minimize remaining challenges; it builds goodwill, demonstrates that positive change is possible, and encourages us to work together to build on that progress. It allows us to direct our energy toward legitimate new problems — like the growing class divide that threatens Americans all across the socio-political spectrum.

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Overtime: Ezra Klein, Andrew Sullivan (HBO)

FAIR Advisor Andrew Sullivan discusses the importance of due process with Bill Maher and Ezra Klein.

I do not care about the economy if the government in this country claims it can break down anyone's doors, seize anyone with no due process, put them on a plane, and send them to a foreign jail... The last person who did that in this country was called George III.

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The misinformation crisis isn’t about truth, it’s about trust

For The Eternally Radical Idea, FAIR’s chairman of the board Angel Eduardo and Greg Lukianoff write about why without free speech, academic freedom, and confidence in our experts and institutions, no amount of fact-checking will help.

The first and most obvious step is for them to adhere to free speech law, and to promote and fervently protect a robust free speech culture. Free speech law will protect us from government attempts to crack down on disfavored speech and information. But a free speech culture is even more important. We need a society where people are not terrified to say what they really believe, if for no other reason than that it allows us to know that’s what they believe. This idea is what Greg calls the Pure Information Theory of free speech. The reality is that it’s inherently valuable to know the world as it really is, and that requires a free and open discourse.

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DEI is a numbers game

For Beyond Plastics MD, FAIR in Medicine Fellow Dr. Richard Bosshardt writes about why he believes DEI ideologues won't stop even if their utopian goals are met.

Once you get past the superficially appealing, high-minded, moralistic posturing of DEI advocates, it all boils down to the numbers. They will always revert to quoting numbers. A question I have to ask is: what happens to DEI once we have achieved perfectly proportionate representation, say, in medicine? Will DEI go away? I think not. If human history tells us anything, it is that conflict is a constant across all cultures and societies and radical ideologues will always find some alleged injustice to justify their beliefs and behavior. Some of us, at least, appear to be addicted to conflict. Once the zealots achieve one goal, they always move on to another.

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