Ambiguous Yids: The problem with speech bans
David Cameron has gotten himself onto the front page of the commuter newspaper Metro by commenting on the bizarre controversy over the use of the word “Yids” in English football. Tottenham fans often...
View ArticleThe meaning of inversion
Probably some clever semiotician has written about this, but the recent bizarre affair of La Quenelle got me to wondering: “When is an inversion not a significant inversion?” Or rather, when does a...
View ArticleThe political opinions of corporations
I’ve been intrigued by the forced resignation of Brendan Eich as CEO of Mozilla Corporation, on account of his donation of $1000 to the 2008 campaign to amend the California constitution to ban...
View ArticleRespect for others’ perspectives
It sounds like a good idea, but can get you trapped in contradictions. With regard to l’affaire Salaita, which I commented on here. Much more information from Corey Robin here and here, including links...
View ArticleHiring formalities
One other point has occurred to me, with regard to the firing/not-quite-hiring of Steven Salaita at the University of Illinois, which I have commented on here and here. Defenders of the university’s...
View ArticleCornpone opinions in academia
I was commenting recently on the attempt by University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Chancellor Phyllis Wise to explain to all of us addleheaded profs that her ability (and that of US employers more...
View ArticleCornpone opinions and Charlie Hebdo
When people praise the good work of Jimmy Carter for world peace, I am reminded of his despicable attack on Salman Rushdie, in the pages of the NY Times, in 1989. At a time when Rushdie was threatened...
View ArticleSpitting on the corpse
The great political cartoonist Joe Sacco has written a thoughtful — and thought-provoking — cartoon-essay about “the limits of satire” in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. I can’t disagree with a...
View ArticleOn not getting the joke
Last week, in Paris, along with sundry other victims, 8 cartoonists and journalists at Charlie Hebdo were killed for pushing the envelope of free speech and political humour. The French authorities...
View ArticleA real champion of academic freedom
I’ve commented before about the craven assault on academic freedom at the University of Southampton, which feigned concerns about “health and safety” to justify cancelling an uncomfortable conference...
View ArticleThe right to be honoured
The journalist Barbara Ellen, writing in the Guardian, has defended Cambridge historian David Starkey, who has come under attack for his racist remarks: An open letter to the university, signed by...
View ArticleWhen did it become verboten to rewrite history?
The role of chancellor is a difficult one: He’s the symbolic aristocratic authority figure, of modest intelligence but sterling character, set to superintend the carryings-on of the overly clever...
View ArticleThe World’s Greatest University(TM) has a bad PR day
Pity the poor flack in Harvard’s press office that needs to deal with two remarkable instances of cravenness in a single day: Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government bowed to criticism from the CIA to...
View ArticleFree speech for me but not for thee
Today: Universities will be told that they must uphold free speech and clamp down on student unions that “no platform” controversial speakers, the government is to announce. Two years ago: Universities...
View Article16th century lessons on fake news and disinformation
I’ve just been reading an interesting book on the relationship between two 16th-century social-media influencers, Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther (Fatal Discord, by Michael Massing). I was struck...
View ArticleFree speech in England
From The Guardian today: A man has been charged over comments made during a proclamation ceremony for the king. Thames Valley police said on Friday that Symon Hill, 45, of Oxford, had been charged...
View ArticleGod is high above, and the free speech tsar is far away
Apparently, the UK now has a “Free Speech Tsar”. This is about as encouraging as the Conservatives’ decision a few years back to appoint an “Antisemitism Tsar”. I guess it’s a way of signalling that...
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