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. 117 What a summer …
Ep. 116 ‘Journal of Controversial Ideas’ with Prof. Peter Singer
Ep. 115 ‘Dare to Speak’ with PEN America’s Suzanne Nossel
Ep. 114 Glenn Loury objects
Rebroadcast: How Daryl Davis, a black man, defeats the Ku Klux Klan with open dialogue
Ep. 113 Charlottesville reflections with Rodney Smolla
Ep. 112 College social media censorship
Ep. 111 'Dear Colleague,' due process now required. Title IX rules analysis.
Ep. 110 The Constitution in the age of coronavirus w/ Prof. Josh Blackman
Ep. 109 Censorship pandemic
Ep. 108 A history of (dis)information wars in the Soviet Union and beyond
Ep. 107.1 "Coronavirus and the failure of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’"
Ep. 107 FIRE, the coronavirus, and the failure of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’
Ep. 106 ‘Free speech and justified true belief’ w/ prof. Joseph Blocher
Ep. 105 ‘Rap on Trial’
Ep. 104 Violent video games with Villanova Professor Patrick M. Markey
Ep. 103 Guns, addiction, and the press
Ep. 102 Cultural sites, slurs, antisemitism, and Title IX
Ep. 101 McCarthyism and The Red Scare
The 100th episode: The state of free speech in America
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