The Michael Shermer Show30 Jan 2024

Overcoming Self-Censorship in the Age of Outrage

As a society we are self-censoring at record rates. Say the wrong thing at the wrong moment to the wrong person and the consequences can be dire.

Think that everyone should be treated equally regardless of race? You're a racist. Argue that people should be able to speak freely within the bounds of the law? You're a fascist.

When the truth is no defense and nuance is seen as an attack, self-censorship is a rational choice. Yet, when we are too fearful to speak openly and honestly, we deprive ourselves of the ability to build genuine relationships, we yield all cultural and political power to those with opposing views, and we lose our ability to challenge ideas or change minds, even our own.

Katherine Brodsky argues that it's time for principled individuals to hit the unmute button and resist the authoritarians among us who name, shame, and punish.

Shermer and Brodsky discuss: growing up Jewish in the Soviet Union and Israel • why liberals (or progressives) no longer defend free speech • cancel culture: data and anecdotes and whether it is an imagined moral panic • free speech law vs. free speech norms • solutions to cancel culture • identity politics • witch crazes and virtue signaling • hate speech and slippery slopes • how to stand up to cancel culture.

Katherine Brodsky is a journalist and author. She has contributed to publications such as Variety, the Washington Post, WIRED, The Guardian, and many others. Over the years she has interviewed a diverse range of intriguing personalities, including the Dalai Lama.

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