Greg Lukianoff: Is cancel culture getting worse?

Is freedom of speech really under attack? Are things getting worse? What is causing many people to be worried about too much free speech? Why are these issues of particular concern on campuses? Is cancel culture literally claiming lives? There’s probably no better guest to tackle these questions (and many more) than Greg Lukianoff, attorney, New York Times best-selling author co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind with Jonathan Haidt, and the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Lukianoff is also the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus. He is the Executive Producer of Can We Take a Joke? (2015), a feature-length documentary that explores the collision between comedy, censorship, and outrage culture, both on and off campus, and of Mighty Ira: A Civil Liberties Story (2020), an award-winning feature-length film about the life and career of former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser. He has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and numerous other publications. He’s also appeared on shows like CBS Evening News, The Today Show, and NPR’s Morning Edition. In 2008, he became the first-ever recipient of the Playboy Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Award, and he has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives about free speech issues on America’s college campuses. His upcoming book (co-authored with Rikki Schlott), The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution, is due to be released on October 17. Follow him on Twitter at: @JonHaidt --- The FORBIDDEN CONVERSATIONS Podcast is a series that takes on topics that don't always get attention or are more challenging to tackle and seeks to address them through civil discourse and nuanced exploration. To view all episodes so far, visit here. Want to listen only? Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. --- Find more essays and podcasts at: http://www.katherinewrites.com