So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
News:Politics
In late 2013, some of us at FIRE started noticing a change on college campuses. Students, who were previously the strongest constituency for free speech on campus, were turning against free speech. They began appealing to administrators more frequently for protection from different speakers and using the language of trauma and safety to justify censorship.
During the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement, students demanded more free speech. Now, they were demanding more censorship.
What changed?
Neil Howe may have an answer. He is a historian, economist, and demographer who speaks frequently on generational change. He has co-authored several books with William Strauss, including “Generations” and “The Fourth Turning.” His most recent book, “The Fourth Turning is Here,” was published last year. Howe argues that history has seasonal rhythms of growth, maturation, entropy, and rebirth and that different generations take on different attributes reflecting their place in the cycle.
Joining Howe and host Nico Perrino for the conversation is FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff, co-author of “The Canceling of the American Mind” and “The Coddling of the American Mind.”
Note: Nico’s lavalier microphone was too close to his mouth during this recording, producing what we in the biz call “clipping.” Hence, Nico sounds a bit crunchier than normal. We apologize if it’s distracting, but we hope it’s not!
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
6:10 Neil’s intent with his book, “Generations”
13:12 Pattern in American history
17:08 The nomad archetype
25:00 Covid and the younger generation
27:28 Do people shape events?
35:35 Gen-Xers and Millennials
41:45 The Fourth Turning
50:24 William James’ “The Moral Equivalent of War”
57:08 Are Gen-Z actually Millennials?
58:10 Dominant generations
01:06:40 How do generational cycles impact civil liberties?
01:10:57 Summary of Millennials
01:18:15 Peaceful periods lead to greater inequality
1:19:16 Outro
Show Notes
Neil Howe’s Substack, “Demography Unplugged”
Greg Lukianoff’s Substack, “The Eternally Radical Idea”
Ep. 39 Judge Richard Posner on the First Amendment
Ep. 38 “After Charlottesville” w/ former ACLU President Nadine Strossen
Ep. 37 Fredrik deBoer on the growing distrust of higher ed
Ep. 36 The life of Louis Brandeis w/ Jeffrey Rosen
Ep. 35 Et tu, hecklers? Howard Sherman on defending the arts
Ep. 34 The 100th anniversary of the Espionage Act of 1917
Ep. 33 The Slants win at the U.S. Supreme Court!
Ep. 32 Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus
Ep. 31 Campus free speech round table: spring 2017 semester in review
Ep. 30 Eugene Volokh and new frontiers in the First Amendment
Ep. 29 Former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser
Ep. 28 ‘Sex and the Constitution’ with professor Geoffrey R. Stone
Ep. 27 The ‘heckler’s veto’ strikes Heather Mac Donald
Ep. 26 Putting money where your mouth is: campaign finance and free speech
Ep. 25 Bob Corn-Revere on censorship: the ‘bastard child of technology’
Ep. 24 How Daryl Davis, a black man, defeats the KKK w/ dialogue
Ep. 23 Rob Corry, ‘speech code slayer’
Ep. 22 Flemming Rose, Editor of ‘the Muhammad Cartoons’
Ep. 21 The ‘Turkey Purge’ w/ Prof. Beth Baron
Ep. 20 The ‘Turkey Purge’ w/ Mahir Zeynalov
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