Category Archives: censorship

Reddit bans “hate speech” but only against certain groups

June 30, 2020 – 10:45 am

As I’ve said before, I think one can make a reasonable case for designating certain crimes as “hate crimes”. For if groups like Jews, blacks, or gays are targeted repeatedly for their identity alone, then increasing the penalties for such crimes, if you can establish the reasons for the crime, will act as a deterrent […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in social media | Comments (70)

Once again: Did Andrew Sullivan’s column get censored by New York Magazine?

June 8, 2020 – 8:30 am

Just a quick update on a recent post of mine. The other day, after a strange tweet from Andrew Sullivan about his Friday column not appearing, speculation began that his column had been censored, presumably because he was going to write about the George Floyd protests, and, I suspect, about the difference between violent and […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (26)

Trump reelection committee demands artist rescind political cartoon, asserting that drawing a “MAGA hat” is a trademark violation

May 27, 2020 – 12:45 pm

As reported by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF; who knew?), as well as an account on The Daily Kos by cartoonist Nick Anderson, the organization Donald Trump For President, Inc. has taken legal exception to this cartoon that Anderson posted on Redbubble, with the title “The Trump Cult”. It’s a pretty good political […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Trumpiana | Comments (68)

Oxford students pass anti-“hate-speech” motion

May 4, 2020 – 1:15 pm

Offense for offense, a woke British university can match the likes of The Evergreen State College or Middlebury College any day. British woke schools have included the London School of Economics, the rest of the University of London, and, of course, Oxford University (called “Oggsford” in The Great Gatsby). And Oggsford students has now solidified […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in college students behaving badly, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (31)

Two distinguished law profs: the U.S. should adopt the Chinese model of speech restriction

May 1, 2020 – 10:00 am

Reader BJ not only sent The Atlantic article below, but also archived it (here), for he thought that, given the articles’ message, the authors might change or even retract it. Apparently that hasn’t happened, though I haven’t compared the archived version with the latest published version (click on screenshot below to see that one). Why […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in college professors acting badly, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (65)

Alaska school board bans five great books from high-school English courses

April 25, 2020 – 12:45 pm

As Clarence Darrow said in his eloquent summation at the Scopes Monkey Trial: “Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more.” To “ignorance and fanaticism” we can add “policing what other people can hear or read”, and a good example of that took place this week […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in books | Comments (83)

Charles Murray returns to Middlebury College

March 11, 2020 – 1:50 pm

A bad reason to invite Charles Murray to Middlebury College is to incite violence, which is what happened when he was last invited three years ago (see several of my reports here). Although Murray wasn’t going to talk about race or intelligence then, that didn’t matter: he’s been forever deemed a racist for co-authoring The […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in college professors acting badly, college students behaving badly, deplatforming | Comments (29)

Hachette cancels publication of Woody Allen’s memoirs after Ronan Farrow objects and the publisher’s employees walk out

March 7, 2020 – 10:30 am

This is really infuriating: a publisher has caved in to mob mentality to cancel the scheduled publication of Woody Allen’s new memoirs. You all know about the accusations of pedophilia against Woody Allen, which have been investigated several times, with no good evidence found that he molested his seven-year-old daughter Dylan. In fact, there’s just […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in books, publishers acting badly, publishing | Comments (73)

Stanford students walk out of talk about whether repealing DACA is legal

February 13, 2020 – 9:15 am

The episode I’ll discuss this morning doesn’t really constitute deplatforming, since the speaker got to speak. It’s not disinvitation, either, as the speaker spoke and his invitation wasn’t rescinded. Nor is it “censorship” in the formal sense because nobody prevented the speaker from speaking. So let’s call it “disruption of a talk”, which is nearly […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Authoritarian and Regressive Left, Authoritarian Left, college students behaving badly, deplatforming, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (52)

A state university disinvites an anti-Semite

January 20, 2020 – 9:30 am

It’s a test of your adherence to free speech if you can stand up for the rights of speakers whose message you despise. And this is one case, as reported on December 24 in the Los Angeles Times (click on screenshot below). San Diego State, a public university in California, gave $170,000 to four of […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in anti-semitism, Colleges acting badly, colleges and universities, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (45)