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THREAD: As you may have noticed, "cancel culture" has intensified in recent weeks. Everywhere you look online, people are organizing to get people fired or kicked out of college for offensive things they've said or done, often in the distant past. 1/33 https://www.thefire.org/campus-cancel-culture-what-you-need-to-know-past-present-and-future/
While we at @TheFIREorg, are busy dealing with an influx of cases like we have never seen before, I think it’s important to reflect on how we got here, where we’re going, and to give some advice on how we might improve things in the here and now. 2/33
FIRE is a free-speech organization, but we’ve always interpreted “free speech” to mean something larger, older, and bolder than just your legal rights. I’ve also focused on how to make discussions productive, and how to promote tolerance for people you disagree with. 3/33
Of particular importance in higher education is determining how to keep an atmosphere of robust debate, thought experimentation, and innovation alive and healthy. From a very early stage, FIRE advocated for what could roughly be called a “culture of free speech” ... 4/33
...where we seriously consider the ideas most opposed to our own, debate and persuade those who disagree with us, consider people’s intentions, and give space for error and forgiveness when faced with mistakes. 5/33
This is the antithesis of cancel culture, which attempts to reduce individuals to a singular offensive statement or action, remove them from mainstream society, and inflict grave social costs on anyone who might defend them. 6/33
FIRE was way ahead of the curve on warning about cancel culture, even before it had a name, and we warned that illiberalism, if unchecked on campus, would spread to the world at large — a fact which at least a few critics have come to recognize. 7/33
If you want to understand how we got here, the @CAPD_freespeech podcast is a great place to start. Additionally, here is my piece on the connection between free speech and the ancient religious wars. 8/33 https://www.thefire.org/we-are-all-blasphemers-a-response-to-eric-posner/
Consider my 2012 book Unlearning Liberty. In retrospect, the year this book came out was the calm before the storm. By then, there was plenty of evidence that we were teaching students illiberal habits and that they were paying attention. 9/33 https://amzn.to/3fVg41n
I wrote Freedom From Speech very soon after it started to become clear that something had changed on campus, and suddenly the drive for “cancellation” was coming from both students and the news media. 10/33 https://amzn.to/3hWtZ9l
We started working on the 2015 documentary @CanWeTakeaJoke in 2012. It turned out to be WAY ahead of its time. “Cancel culture” was not a term that had caught on yet, so we talk about it in terms of “the culture of offense.” 11/33
https://amzn.to/31c6xyX
https://amzn.to/31c6xyX
The documentary by @tedbalaker looks at the tension between outrage culture and comedy on and off-campus. Joining us for that look are comedians @RealGilbert, @pennjilette, @LisaLampanelli, @HeatherMcDonald, @JimNorton, @KarithFoster, and more. 12/33
Our “Coddling” article was published in 2015. @JonHaidt and I argued that cancel culture norms on campus are also bad for mental health. We warned that these norms were likely to bleed over into the real world as students entered professional life. 13/33 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/
Our book Coddling came out in 2018. Still the most comprehensive thing I’ve written on this topic, Jon and I go in-depth on how bad the mental health crisis has gotten, six causal factors we think are related to it, and “the three great untruths.” 14/33
https://amzn.to/2Z60qtd
https://amzn.to/2Z60qtd
You might want to pay special attention to cases we mentioned from the 2015 protests that demanded faculty or staff be fired and the short surge of violence on campus in 2017. Unfortunately, I expect this fall to look like a combination of the worst aspects of both. 15/33
You might be wondering what you can do to protect your campus from cancel culture. Staying informed is the first step. Follow people who frequently highlight campus free expression conflicts like @robbysoave, @JMchangama, @kcjohnson9, and, well, me. 16/33
Submit a case: If you or someone you know is a student or professor currently facing punishment, whether it’s about cancellation or not, FIRE might be able to help. We are currently overwhelmed with case requests, but we will get back to you. 17/33 https://www.thefire.org/resources/submit-a-case/
Subscribe to FIRE’s email list to get breaking campus news sent directly to you. 18/33 https://www.thefire.org/subscribe-to-fires-e-mail-lists-and-receive-breaking-news-first/
Read our guide to free speech on campus: Still the best overview we’ve written on what your free speech rights are on campus. 19/33 https://www.thefire.org/research/publications/fire-guides/fires-guide-to-free-speech-on-campus-3/
Read our guide to due process and campus justice: All students (and their parents) should read this before they go to college. 20/33 https://www.thefire.org/research/publications/fire-guides/fires-guide-to-due-process-and-campus-justice/
Check out your school’s free-speech record in FIRE’s Spotlight Database. 21/33 https://www.thefire.org/resources/spotlight/
For faculty, join FIRE’s Faculty Network, where we’ll share legal developments and advocacy strategies to help keep your campus free. 22/33 https://www.thefire.org/join-the-fire-faculty-network/
For students, join FIRE’s Student Network, where you’ll get updates on your campus, as well as a heads-up about events, conferences, activism toolkits, and internship opportunities. 23/33 https://www.thefire.org/get-involved/student-network/about-the-fire-student-network/
Students who want to do more can look into founding or joining a chapter of Student Defenders, groups of students who help their peers facing punishment for alleged conduct code violations. 24/33 https://www.thefire.org/get-involved/student-network/student-defenders/
For some schools in our Database, we have a “Take Action” button that lets you contact your school directly. When you hear about an incident, write the administration to let them know that you support free speech, academic freedom, and diversity of opinion on campus. 25/33
Defend people with whom you disagree with the same zeal you use to defend the people you agree with. 26/33
Teaching free speech on campus will help ensure that value is present in the world at large. The better-equipped people are to share knowledge and use reason to find solutions, the more they’ll learn as a lifelong habit. 27/33
One of the most efficient ways to pursue that big-picture goal is to push for campuses to adopt a culture of free expression. Some tools for that: 28/33
Our “Five ways university presidents can prove their commitment to free speech” article is a great way to start. Despite the title, it offers specific action items anyone can work to implement on your campus, starting today. 29/33 https://www.thefire.org/five-ways-university-presidents-can-prove-their-commitment-to-free-speech/
For K-12 educators, our Free Speech Curriculum modules cultivate active citizenship in the context of lessons on topics including Constitution Day, Black History, and censorship of social media. 30/33 https://www.thefire.org/resources/high-school-network/high-school-curriculum/
Encourage your campus to use our Free Speech at Freshman Orientation modules. Setting the expectation of a free speech culture from the first day on campus will make future conflicts easier to resolve. 31/33 https://www.thefire.org/resources/free-speech-freshman-orientation/
Our Model Code of Student Conduct is a guide for college administrators to govern student life in a way that protects students’ rights. Its provisions distill FIRE’s experience from over two decades of studying college disciplinary systems. 32/33 https://www.thefire.org/legal/procedural-advocacy/model-code/model-code-of-student-conduct/
Support FIRE. Whether through a one-time donation, recurring donations, a legacy gift, or @AmazonSmile, every dollar helps.
If the lights went out, we’d fight for individual freedom in the dark — but it’s a lot easier to do with the lights on. 33/end https://www.thefire.org/donate/
If the lights went out, we’d fight for individual freedom in the dark — but it’s a lot easier to do with the lights on. 33/end https://www.thefire.org/donate/
HUGE thanks to @RynoWeiss for helping me turn this into a Tweetstorm. It was a bit of beast!
