This week, HBO delivered the corporate version of the Expelliarmus or disarming curse for the long-standing cancel campaign targeting “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling. We have been discussing this campaign against Rowling, a feminist who has opposed transgender policies that she views as inimical to the rights of women. The cancel campaign against Rowling has been extreme and unhinged from blacklisting her books to even barring the playing of Harry Potter games in pubs. Even authors who support Rowling’s free speech have been targeted. Nevertheless, HBO, which has also been targeted in the past, is now saying enough. Rowling’s work will continue to be featured and developed by the company.
HBO has enraged the anti-Rowling movement by announcing that it will not yield and will continue to work with the author: “J.K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views. We will remain focused on the development of the new series, which will only benefit from her involvement.” It added that “her contribution has been invaluable.”
HBO has a new upcoming Potter series set to premiere on HBO’s Max streaming platform in 2026.
Both Harry Potter stars, Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, and Emma Watson, who played Hermine Granger, have joined the criticism of Rowling. However, the criticism itself is not the primary problem, even if they unfairly characterize Rowlings’ actual statements. That is a use of their own free speech rights.
However, the cancel campaigns are far more damaging for free speech, as I discuss in my book, The Indispensable Right.
The issue of cancel campaigns came up in my recent debate at Harvard Law School on free speech with Professor Randall Kennedy. Kennedy defended cancel campaigns as the exercise of free speech. There is no question that such campaigns involve the act of free speech as people rallying for or against viewpoints. However, the impact of such campaigns, particularly in higher education, is to limit the diversity of viewpoints and reinforce an orthodoxy on our campuses. It is not to express a view but to seek to silence an opposing view. It is the antithesis of free speech values in higher education.
It also has a damaging effect on an academic community. When students see faculty supporting the canceling of conservative, libertarian, or dissenting speakers, it is hardly an invitation to speak freely yourself in class.
The same is true for publishers. We have discussed companies discontinuing publication of Rowling’s work and both editors and writers joining blacklisting campaigns against her and others. We have even seen the embracing of book burning.
For the activists behind this massive cancel campaign, HBO’s announcement is nothing short of a corporate Cruciatus (torture) Curse. However, both the arts and free speech are the winners in Rowling’s continuing to produce and expand her legendary body of work.
If people don’t agree with Rowling, fine – they can exercise their right to say what they think about what she says. But, freedom of speech does not give them the right to a) slander or libel the person (Rowling, in this case), or b) advocate censorial action against her.
This is where it gets messy and dangerous, because many of her critics think it’s ok to do both of these things to silence her.
It is sad that it took a larger than life president to give HBO the cajones to to stand up to the cancel mob.
hello
I am making a good salary from home $4580-$5240/week , which is amazing under a year ago I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now its my duty to pay it forward and share it with Everyone,
Here is I started_______
Radcliffe and Watson are prime examples of the unbridled hypocrisy of liberals. Nobody would even know who they are were it not for Rowling writing the books. Like all of the hollywood crowd, as soon as they get a modicum of success they start spouting liberal ideology, knowing that is the only way to get future movie roles. That’s why they are despised almost as much as the corporate media.
Aaand Western Europe continues its descent into 1930s level fascism part a million. Britain is lost. So are Germany, France, Australia, Spain, Italy, and others. The EU is about primed to be destroyed, IMO. But Britain, *Britain*, is the object lesson. People in Ireland (‘real’ Ireland, not Northern Ireland) should be thanking their lucky stars they are shaking off the UK’s influence, though even that does not appear to be enough.
Western Europe can no longer be considered countries that represent Western freedom. Such is the result of oligarchical globalism. Tsk, tsk. Sad, and something to pay attention to (there is the worst of our worst have headed to the UK to be unelected tyrants), though FWIW, it has been worth paying attention to for well over a decade or more, when the stirrings of revitalized fascism were becoming clear in their nascent stages, which nobody seemed to care about.
I really do feel for people there though, and it could be karma due to Britain’s rampant and historic colonialism: you can’t do this to people forever. Eventually, they will have had enough. One would have thought the Dark Ages or Robespierre would have been sufficient illustration, but I guess nobody studies history anymore.
God bless our 1A, 2A, electoral college, filibuster, and separation of powers. And heaven help the Brits. They are in for a long and not very fun fight.
Sorry, posted on the wrong post. It has happened to a couple of us today. Brain fog, I guess.
Aaand here we have more on James.
“well over a decade or more, when the stirrings of revitalized fascism were becoming clear in their nascent stages, which nobody seemed to care about. ”
If Tony Blair is part of what you had in mind with that statement, there were quite a few of us who cared, and in fact passionately hated that buzzard and nearly all that he stood for.
It’s pretty clear the modern left are utterly and completely tone deaf. Granted, this is about dollars for HBO, but whatever. It is and was always absurdity on ts face. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
Before anyone sing the praise, remember this is a business decision and it is all about money. While I think cancel culture is stupid, it certainly has not hurt J.K.Rowling’s pocket book and as far as I can tell, Harry Potter is still very popular. So what does the hooping and hollering actually accomplish? Nothing in this case and I personally think it only helps bring it to an end faster, which is good for society.
I do not think anyone can say that this has not hurt Rowling’s pocketbook, because we do not know how many of her books were NOT bought because of her stance, or how many movie deals or endorsements were NOT done. Lucky for her, she was rich before she made her stand. Most of this Woke and pro-trans crap is baked into the system, at levels we do not see. As explained by Stephen Crowder, here:
@Quiet Man
No question. It’s about dollars. Sadly though, dollars are 21st century bullets, and she just machine-gunned in a perfect strafing pattern her detractors. Sad? Yes. True? Yes.
Remember Enid Blyton’s reaction when libraries started canceling her books in the late ’60s. She thanked them, because now all the kids had to buy their own copies and her sales skyrocketed.
I think of that line in The Wizard of Oz where the good witch tells Dorothy that she had the power all along to go home. We have had the power, all along, to dispense with the insanity of the progressive/socialist left and shut them down because they are nothing more than the very amplified small minority of malcontents and anarchists. We have just shown by this last election that we are the majority and that we just need to (as you would with any spoiled toddler having a tantrum) say no. We are the adults in the room and it is time that we started acting as such.
whimsical mama: You are wrong on several fronts, beginning with the idea that you MAGA Trump disciples “are in the majority”–Trump received less than 50% of the popular vote–so most voters voted for someone else. And he received fewer votes than Hillary Clinton received in 2016 when she beat him in the popular vote count. Secondly, Trump’s campaign was rife with lies and baseless promises that people fell for–to wit: that our economy was teetering on the brink of a depression and that our country is headed in the wrong direction. Because MAGA media spread these lies, and because inflation that Trump helped caused with his stupid tariffs and mishandling of COVID hasn’t come down as much as most would like, voters fell for it. They also fell for the baseless claim that our personal weath will soar and that grocery and housing prices would fall precipitiously–all without any plan for how to make this happen. Then, there’s the misogyny and xenophobia–the lies about Harris being “stupid” and a “DEI” hire, that she screwed her way to success, and the lies about migrants overrunning small towns, stealing and eating pets and committing murders and rapes–most of these crimes are committed by native-born Americans. Trump’s entire campaign was a compendium of lies, racism, xenophobia and baseless promises, magnified and broadcast by MAGA media.
Most Americans viewed Trump unfavorably before the election, and Harris had higher favorability ratings. So, no, whimsicalmama–you MAGAs are not in the majority and don’t represent the views and values of most Americans. Those of us who oppose someone who brags about assaulting women, who falsified business records and lied on loan applications, who has been convicted of 34 felonies, who steals from a charitable foundation, who steals classsified documents and lies about returning them, and who started an insurrection are far from being a “small minority of malcontents and anarchists”. We are patriotic Americans who respect the rule of law. The “malcontents and anarchists” are folks like you who believe Trump and his lies, and who were willing to attack the Capitol to keep him in power after he lost in 2020.
+100
You really present with an advanced case of TDS. There are cures but they are painful (but it will save what is remaining of your grey matter) Seek help before it is too late.
“There are cures but they are painful”
I recommend one that is painless – decapitation. Doesn’t do that much for the patient, but it is *such* a relief for the rest of us…
Nurse and lawyer Gigi doesn’t know what “majority” means. She obviously believes and says that it means more than 50%. Doesn’t get any better than this, folks.
That is what it means. Less than 50% may be a plurality but it can’t be a majority.
A worshipper of Obama and all things far left accusing others of being ‘disciples’ of a political candidate….that’s special. The unbridled hypocrisy, combined with the stupidity, makes you idiots the most despised people on the planet.
Gigi has riesig TDS. Popular vote Mach Nichts. Electoral blowout, including every swing state alles bedeuten. Electoral map = bright red except for L & R coast. Stay tuned for the demise of DEI and the end of lawfare.
I am not sure we have proved we are the majority. As experience shows, the left never sleeps, commands the media, and, as a nearby poster illustrated, has the capability and inclination to lie and bully and cancel to extents we can only suffer from but never match.
Many of us know that the “34 felonies” are bogus and will never survive appeal.
Meanwhile, Tata (owner of Jaguar) has fired back a salvo against Rowling!
I’m thinking Bud Lite 2.0
Exactly! In this video, at the 3:30 mark, you get to hear a Jaguar exec giving background for this ad. Apparently about two weeks before the ad dropped. What a word salad of crap, and the dude sounds a little light in the sandals, if you get my drift:
“I’m thinking Bud Lite 2.0”
Probably not worth the effort. Tata is a marginal vehicle producer to begin with, and going downhill. Which might partially explain why they would grasp at this particular publicity straw. My vote would be to just let them swirl down the toilet unimpeded…
Latest Tata Motors September 2024 sales numbers – All in red!
https://www.cars24.com/news/webstory/latest-tata-motors-september-2024-sales-numbers/
I’m not going to watch that, but my guess is that it involves biological women with virtual testicular pain, and biological men getting their “tatas” in a bunch…
Greg Gutfeld had a hilarious take on it:
I saw that, a perfect joke. Remember the dude with red lipstick, a mustache and known for stealing women’s luggage?
Let’s be polite and say this is yet another blown and comically inept attempt by Turley to avoid dealing with book banning in public school libraries in Florida and Texas…, or should we just be honest and point out that it’s nothing more than him trying to flood the zone with another disingenuous push piece meant as blatant distraction?…
I’m sure you genius magats here will set me straight on it if you can manage to take a few seconds and stop beating the kid to PT trumpenstein’s efforts to build a team of rapists in the White House.
Turley for AG!!!!!
The use of “disingenuous” in Anony’s above comment tells us who it is. Such originality.
It is as it does, f#$k twizzler.
Not book banning (and on that subject, what do you call progressives seeking to ban To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn?) but book advisories and restrictions. Or do you think elementary school students should be reading about cutting, suicide, and incest?
“Huckleberry Finn”
Just re-title that “Dingleberry Fun” and the wokists will demand to make it the standard public school kindergarten reader…
Bans.
The fact you resort to such lame denials and twisted rationalizations tells me you’re even dumber than I thought.
YA, high school age, books were at high schools. YA, elementary aged, was at elementary schools. Maybe think for a little bit before popping off about things you obviously know nothing other than what fox told you, how about that?
No, they weren’t.
I take it you’re a fan of Drag Queens and boos that glorify deviates?
You mean that old Nathan Lane flick? Yeah I liked it.
Nah.
Parents in Florida can buy any book they want for their kids
Nothing is banned except your stupid attempts to trans the kids
Yeah, Johnny Say, I’ve seen your disingenuous attempts to deny the censorship going on in Florida and Texas schools for years now. Thing is, it only takes one simple question to destroy your flawed logic…
Are school libraries run by Amazon? Bonus question: are town libraries school libraries? (There may actually be a very small group of towns where this is the case).
But you’re answering with an apples to oranges scenario. Your language and logic aren’t correct. In Florida alone there have been upwards of a thousand books banned from school libraries. Banned. BANNED.
Availability of books by other means has no bearing on where and how the school libraries have been actively censored with book bans. Especially when, for a significant number of kids don’t have a public library within walking distance and can’t afford to shop for books on Amazon. As it stands right now, school libraries in FL and TX are being curated by minority opinion. And your word games have no bearing on that. Use correct language or STFU.
Must school libraries carry hustler ?
No school library anywhere has alll books ever published
But I will make this easy for you
If public schools may not limit books to those relevant to education
Ie if public schools limiting books violates free speech
The public schools per see violate free speech and must be eliminated
This is a constant issue for those of you on the left
Government is limited for many reasons
Including that government is forbidden from doing many things that are required by non public institutions
Books are indeed banned by school libraries in FL and TX. Your logic is flawed and your language isn’t correct. But genius magat that you are you can’t be bogged down with such mundane issues. Or maybe you’re just a catastrophically stupid person. Who knows?
Books are “banned” in school libraries across the country
Tom Sawyer is banned all over by the left
About half of all banned books are banned by the left for things like using the n word
Regardless no school is going to provide students every book ever published
Therefore choice’s always must be made
Either public schools must be free to restrict libraries to some material necessary for courses- and even that is not enough
There are enough elementary math books to fill every public school library
Or alternatively public schools may not exist as they would of necessity violate free speech
Or I can put this more simply
We hat public school library carries hustler ?
Curating public school library inventory is not and has never been censorship.
On a related note, was your lobotomy painful?
Curating is done by librarians and school boards. Censorship is forced by ass clowns such as moms for liberty. So yeah, f#$k you.
Lawn Boy Elvis gets a little triggered when he is the only one teaching his 11 year old nephew felatio.
When you pay property taxes in FL or TX, then you can open your fat mouth. Until then, why dont you STFU? Or keep tilting with that diaper on your head. Looks good on you!
How about you worry about your shit state of Colorado, ya goddam pedophile? We dont need your proclivities down here in Florida.
Because you say so ?
Why are librarians and school boards permitted to violate the first amendment in schools but not state legislatures or concerned parents ?
In what stupid world do you think some pink haired sexually ambiguous librarian who has never actually had a child of their own a better person to decide what a child can read than that child’s parents?
You are really clueless
If schools limit themselves to uncontroversial material directly related to core education they will have more books available than space
And each parent can decide if their child might benefit from controversial material
You want to talk about book banning?? Ok both sides of the spectrum have dirty hands and both side have a long history going back to the earliest days of our country.
So you are against book banning? Ok Let us test this case.
How about we allow into the school blatantly anti-gay literature that not only insults that group but calls for outright banning them from school? How about we also teach it in school? Let us also call it literature. We also do not allow any other idea as a counter point to this literature.
You good with this?
I am good with this. As would be Turley, at least with his surface rhetoric.
Would you say that keeping the movie Deep Throat away from kids is “banning” it?
School libraries have made these decisions for decades, it’s only now that the lunatics on the left want to groom kids that the need for diligence has gotten greater.
Meanwhile your side wants to actually ban To Kill a Mockingbird and Dr Seuss.
Ah, another slow one. Crash course:another. librarians are one thing, private interest, Christian nationalist idiots are another.
When the “librarians” are trans supporting groomers it is up to the parents…moron.
Crash course
This Christian nationalist thing is made up and woke teachers and librarians are piss poor at determining the needs of students as exemplified by declining student performance coresponding with the rise in woke idiot teachers
Regardless the overwhelming majority of people do not want schools shilling porn to students
More than 50% of voters claimed that opposition to woke left wing extremism drove their vote
Whether you like it or not
It is those trying to perv students that are the extremists
Not those trying to keep porn out of schools
Sorry assclown, but the groomer just had to vacate his nomination for AG. Trump did some funky stuff on Epstein Island too. Got sued for it and settled. You so dumb.
I’m going to need some proof on… ALL, of that. Not the vacate AG nomination, that is known. I’m talking about the other stuff. Did they finally release the Epstien files? Where is it confirmed (from the federal courts and committees that investigated) that Gaetz groomed someone?
Methinks washing your hair isn’t the only ‘grooming’ this Anon above me has done.
Lawn Boy likes to assume things in all of his personas. This is one way we recognize him. Allegation is fact. Unsubstantiated rumor is fact. Accusations and allegations in a criminal indictment are evidence, according to him, george, and gigi (and
now oliver reeder too).
Then he also likes to make shit up out of the blue, like Epstein Island. He usually uses Gigi to do that.
Joe Biden wasnt grooming his daughter when he took showers with her, though.
Sources ?
I am not aware of a single credible claim that trump ever went to Epsteins island
North am I aware of trump ever settling a lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct
If you expect anyone’s trust you had better be able to back up claims like this
Especially when you call others dumb
As to gaetz
This discussion is not about sexual allegations regarding 17yr olds which garlands doj find lacking credibility
It is about perving much younger children as an official government act and policy
Europe is gone. I have been a kind of Kissingerian (my own word) NATO supporter for 50 years, a Soviet hater until that monstrous entity was vanquished, and more hawkish on defense than most with an understanding that we needed alliances in order to remain on top of our enemies. Today however it seems as if we don’t have European allies any longer. Sure Great Britain gives us some military backup, but they don’t even have a navy these days. Germany is a paper tiger and France is more likely to go against us as they are to assist us. Europe, at least Western Europe is useless as an ally today.
This brings us to a point where we need to reconfigure our military strategy and alliances. As China gets stronger every day we need to build up our military and not shrink our might. We need Japan, Taiwan and Korea to start spending much more on defense. Especially Japan. We need to talk to countries that are getting worried about China and we need to do it before China’s power passes that invisible point where these nations decide it is better to side with the beast than be against the beast. Maybe Vietnam and India need a wake up call. Brazil too for sure. Of course Biden basically pushed Brazil into the arms of the CCP.
We need the money and oil countries like Saudi Arabia to get into the fight too. Once Iran is shut down, Saudi Arabia and Israel will be a bulwark against China in the ME.
I know this is currently sacrilegious but it would be best for the world if we could get Russia under control, understand that they aren’t the threat today and make them understand that if the US is gone China will eat them up in short order. China should not be Russia’s friend. (I DON NOT THINK THAT WE SHOULD ALLOW RUSSIA TO ANNEX UKRAINE AND I SUPPORT US DEFEATING RUSSIA IN THE CURRENT BATTLE, I AM THINKING LONG TERM HERE.) Kissinger, there is that man again, had it right when he managed to separate china and the Soviets with Nixon in the 70s a move that benefited the US more than any other geopolitical move in the second half of the 20th century.
I meant the above comment to be placed with the column about “Hate” crimes in England.
I mostly agree. For decades now, the state department has shown to be more ideological in its approach to foreign policy than pragmatic. Invading a country for good reasons, such as Afghanistan to get bin Laden, is one thing; staying there to rebuild into a democracy is utter stupidity, based on lack of knowledge of the history and culture of those countries. Rebuilding Germany and Japan after WWII was indeed possible because these were culturally cohesive countries. However, Iraq and Afghanistan are characterized by tribalism, ethnic- and also , in Iraq’s case, religious strife. We witnessed the arrogance of state department officials during the first impeachment of DJT.
Russia belongs culturally to the West, but it does not have much of a democratic tradition. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the West had a unique opportunity to embrace Russia and bring it into the Western fault. Instead, we continued treating it as our primary enemy. I think that was a first class blunder. We may have an opportunity again to bring Russia to our side by first negotiating and end to the Ukrainian war without humiliation, i.e. making sure Putin can safe face, and then building strong economic, cultural, and security ties with Russia.
In our hemisphere, we need to start working on regime change in Venezuela and Cuba. Next ensure that the next elections in Brazil are honest (although we are in no position to preach in that regard) and build strong ties with Brazil and Argentina. In the far East, indeed, S. Korea and Japan are natural allies, and it seems that the US is reaching out to India (a historic adversary of China and the only country with equal manpower), Vietnam would make a good ally to as would Indonesia.
I emigrated from Western Europe some 30 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made. There is a saying about Europe that catches it all: something is either prohibited or it is mandated. Freedom is limited but most people do not even realize that. Collectivism rules; and individualism is frown upon. But there is a sliver of hope. Although the left has dominated for decades, resistance is emerging as we see in the rise of what they call in the press the extreme right. Often new political parties with conservative values have been arising in Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands. Moreover, Eastern Europe with its still memorable experience with communism would also make better allies for the US.
DoubleDutch, I love your comment!
Kissinger seemed to have some decent goals, but for the most part went about achieving them in the wrong ways, because at heart he believed in the supremacy of the State, not the individual. We would have been far better off had we attempted to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with Putin’s Russia when he came to power post-USSR, instead of allowing the US deep state defense and spy agencies to continue marching down the comfortable anti-Russian rut they had worn for themselves over the course of the Cold War. Befriending Putin at that time might have forestalled a strong, renewed, Sino-Russian alliance, and, quite possibly, prevented formation of the BRICS challenge to the hegemony of the USD. Now, as a libertarian, anti-interventionist, and free market proponent, I do not think that that USD dominance was an absolute good, nor do I think that it ultimately benefited the people of this country over the long term. However, there were far less painful ways to end it than what looks to be happening now.
The only reason we hate Russia so much today (prior to the invasion of Ukraine) is because the left thought they could use Russia as a way to attack Trump. The same left LOVED the Soviets for 50 years, called them the good guys and us the bad guys and all because they hate the US and want it damaged. This is why the left never attack China over the climate or anything else. They just want the west weaker.
Keeping in mind that the enemy of my enemy is not always truly my friend, I offer her well wishes within certain limits.
Looks like free speech is breaking out all over. J K Rowling has been a regular Horatius at the Bridge these last few years with little to no support. I’m happy to see her get the veneration that she really deserves. When so many others slunk away to escape notice and the Harpies of Hate, she stood tall fighting to protect the “ashes of her fathers and the temples of her gods”.
Justine Bateman (an actress in Hollywood) and others have commented on the lifting of the suffocating shroud of censorship and wokeness over the last few years in Tinseltown. Even look at sports around the world as all types of teams and sports do the “Trump dance”. Even the NFL had their HBO moment and said the have no issue with the Trump Dance.
Nice to see some breaking free spirit.
Of Course Democrats have yet to figure that out generally, although a few have had their eyes opened.
“I’m happy to see her get the veneration that she really deserves.”
I agree with that, and wish her well. However, I would not be honest if I did not admit taking no little pleasure in watching the tap dances that Disney has had to do to promote the products it licensed form Rowling (i.e. “Harry Potter”) and at the same time, appease the tranny-promoting zealots among its fan base. Much more entertaining to see than any recent Disney movie.
“HBO Delivers Blow Against the Anti-Rowling, Anti-Free Speech Movement”
Warner Brothers Discovery, including subsidiary HBO, are going to go in whatever direction they think the current political winds are blowing them towards. Sadly, this is typical, “required” might be a more accurate term, of such corporatist entities. I guess in the current miasma that results form near homogenization of government and corporate interests, that might be the best that we can expect, but I’ll be damned if I will concede that this behavior deserves some kind of blessing on WBD / HBO for moral rectitude, which is what Turley seems to be implying in this headline. It is nothing but a cynical and transparent attempt to continue to secure benefits from government that are unearned in the marketplace, and therefore undeserved and inequitable. What needs to happen here is for Trump’s FCC to completely revamp the broadcast licensing structure to end the free ride given legacy networks, issue time delimited (5 years?) licenses by competitive bidding, and apply that same philosophy (not necessarily in exactly the same manner) to all other segments of transmitted and other communications media that fall under its jurisdiction. The results are not guaranteed to be perfect – competition has no guarantee to produce any preordained result – but it will absolutely be more reflective of what audiences really want to see and find out than the current over-regulated, under-competitive, “market” provides.
“from” not “form”
Never thought I would have the opportunity to say “Yeah HBO!”
Times/Elections are changing. With the election of Donald Trump the Majority of the Voters spoke loud and clear to throw out the Left Wing Radical Woke/censor campaigns and touchy issues that the Left pushed. Not just in the US, many around the World celebrated Trump’s victory. I saw TV staff, in Greece, when Trump declared winner, doing YMCA live on TV and etc.
Its nice to see HBO, Washington Post LA Times, etc, more to come, freeing themselves of Woke policies, this is just the start. Even Eric Admas in NY is moving , in some cases, away from the Woke and etc, policies. DEI policies are now dead, corporations and soon the US Gov’t to say Goodbye to such policies.
Thanks for your comments! Trump predicts that Eric Adams will be a Republican within a year.
Professor Kennedy characterizes “cancel campaigns” as the “exercise of free speech.” Really? That is like characterizing flatulation in an elevator as a “temporarily confined aromatic modification.”
Luna’s dad insightfully responds: “However, the impact of such campaigns, particularly in higher education, is to limit the diversity of viewpoints and reinforce an orthodoxy on our campuses. It is not to express a view but to seek to silence an opposing view. It is the antithesis of free speech values in higher education.” Luna’s dad smacks it out of the park.
On the topic of free speech, today’s radicaliberal (a new blended neologism, just invented…, use it freely as necessary…) “Ivory Towers” have metastasized into linguistic gun towers facilitating the anti-intellectual strafing of their campuses below to preserve and protect the buildings and tenured professors (and their parking spaces) as the institutions of higher indoctrination and inculcation that they have become.
Conservative and libertarian thought (and speech) are treated like cerebral Ebola. Why people continue to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to these faux academic cartels — when instead they could buy hundreds of thousands of nourishing tacos — is a deep, and unanswered mystery.
Luna’s dad is dead on target. Go buy his book.
In Highlander a scene has Sean Connery’s character in a rowboat with Connor McCloud singing BALANCE to the notes of the octave. Connor, standing, loses his balance and falls overboard. Underwater he learns the lesson that an immortal cannot drown. So it is with freedom of expression. There can be only one. And it rides on balance.