Articles
Blasphemy – a notion that crystallizes so many of the issues around free speech
In the west, we often think that the right to question religious authority is a battle that was won long ago. Most people think it’s at best an anachronism in today’s world. But it wasn’t so long ago that questioning church canon could lead to arrest, torture and a painful, fiery death.
Journalistic self-censorship in wartime is a free speech problem
Suppressing and censoring speech used to mostly be the work of the government. People on the left would generally criticize and resist the power of the state to control what information they would be allowed to see, hear or read, particularly in times of war.
Canada’s Plans to Regulate the Internet
Canada’s latest attempt to regulate speech comes in the form of the hotly debated bill, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act (though it was hardly debated in the House-–MPs rushed over 150 amendments to meet the government imposed deadline).
The Revival – The False Promise of Recreating the Ice Age to Save the Planet
Somewhere along the way, the environmental movement became human-centric. We turned Nature into the Environment, Animals into Resources, and Land into Conservation Sites
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy: Is this 1888 vision of a year 2000 Utopia still relevant?
Forty years after the Communist Manifesto eviscerated capitalism and predicted its demise, a relatively unknown American writer shot to fame with a fascinating blueprint for its replacement.
Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000 – 1887 was a literary, cultural, and political sensation. First published in 1888, it was an international hit and only the second U.S. novel to sell a million copies.
On the Limitations of the ‘Lived Experience’
For the better part of a decade, I immersed myself in social justice causes. I made sure I kept myself up-to-date with the latest social justice jargon, even when it was confusing and contradictory (though I wouldn’t admit to it at the time).
On anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: A Response to Mark White’s Article in Plebity
I appreciate the opportunity to respond to Mark White’s blog in Plebity arguing that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. I take up some but not all of Mark’s arguments. But Mark’s analysis is off base both conceptually and factually in several places.
No, Anti-Zionism does not Equal Antisemitism
When Jews discourage debate about Israel and Jewish identity, they prevent open conversation and legitimate criticism of Israel, which leaves the field open for real antisemites to use anti-Zionist language to promote and spread their actual antisemitism.
‘Do Your Part’: On the Toxic Rise of Moral Grandstanding in the Pandemic
Moral grandstanding is an ever-present, seductive force. It may feel impossible to avoid for many of us, but it is necessary to do so if we want to coexist meaningfully with each other. Next time you feel the urge to make a moral proclamation, consider whether you are actually advancing a cause, or yourself.
Why the Medical Community is Abandoning Science in the Age of Denial
While medical schools still use some modified version of the Hippocratic Oath, many medical schools, including Harvard, Yale, and the University of Texas are now allowing students to write their own oaths. At the University of Pittsburgh, the graduating class of 2024 wrote an oath of ethics with a social justice bent.
A Story of Fake Photojournalism: The Book of Veles, Real Euros for Fake News
This fake news story begins in Veles, a small city of 40,000 people in Macedonia. Veles became widely known in the Trump election of 2016 as a production center for false information websites. Presumably, there were hundreds of fake news websites developed by some people in Veles that generated income from ads.
Latest Free Speech Grants Go To Rachel Damiano and Katie Medart
The latest Plebity Free Speech Fund recipients are two Oregon educators, Rachel Damiano and Katie Medart. Rachel, Assistant Principal, and Katie, 7th-grade science teacher...