We Must Defend Free Thought
The unpleasant reality that we must face today is that there is a small subset of hard-line ideologues who oppose open discourse altogether. The fact that you may not feel comfortable speaking your mind openly, and may feel afraid of serious consequences, is viewed by these people as an accomplishment. It is easy to ignore this reality, but when it harms people we admire, and threatens to stifle earnest discussions taking place in good faith, this reality must be dealt with head-on.
Their position is that debate
"normalises" unsavoury people and that to platform anyone with right-of-centre
views is the equivalent to "legitimising Nazis". This fanatical minority
is tiny in number but has successfully cowed university
administrators, corporate leaders, and countless thoughtful people into
silence. So successful are their tactics, they have even instilled climates of
fear in institutions that were established with the explicit purpose of
defending free thought. If these institutions cannot resist such vandals, who
can?