How cancel culture not only silences but also kills

One of the strangest things about fighting cancel culture is the stubborn claim that it doesn t even exist.

But 22 years of combatting censorship on college campuses has shown me that cancel culture is very real, and can even be deadly.

My career began shortly after 9/11, often defending professors who said controversial things about the attacks.

One of my first cases involved a conservative professor named Mike Adams.

He had been targeted by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington after he challenged a student who claimed America had the attacks coming.

My organization, the non-partisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), would be called to defend Professor Adams many times over the years for his irreverent conservative advocacy.

More than a dozen professors were targeted in the wave of punishments after 9/11, and three of them were fired.

These numbers may seem small, but even a single professor losing their job for their point of view chills speech. People want to protect their livelihoods, so once the firings start, the speaking stops.

Never mind that  Supreme Court rulings between 1957 and 1973 established strong protections for professor and university student free speech rights. 

via nypost.com

Greg Lukianoff is a mensch.