Freedom Requires Courage

“But now, being made ‘uncomfortable’ or being associated with unpopular company is sufficient reason to abandon principle.”

We are living in the age of impossible cowardice. It seems that people are taking a knee at the altar of popular opinion, terrified of what may come if they do not. Last year, the NBA notoriously prevented fans from voicing support for Hong Kong out of fear of losing Chinese sponsors. Major American companies including Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, and Zoom also acted as overseas censors on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

While the growing threat of foreign government censorship is ominous and disturbing, many people are finding themselves more likely to be targeted by domestic activists with an ideological axe to grind. Also, they are discovering fewer and fewer colleagues and friends willing to back them. As examples of “cancel culture” accumulate, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter earlier this month reminding us not to lose sight of the basic principles of liberalism.

The Harper’s letter, of course, should not have been as offensive as it proved to be. Yet it still sparked a major social media backlash. Here is the most essential message from the letter:

“The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes. We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences. If we won’t defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn’t expect the public or the state to defend it for us.”