Many have expressed alarm over the rapid rise of cancel culture. The Canceling of the American Mind is the first book to codify it and survey its effects. Following the best‐selling The Coddling of the American Mind, this new book looks at the topic with hard data and research on what cancel culture is and how it works, along with hundreds of new examples showing the left and the right both working to silence their enemies.
Coauthor Greg Lukianoff will examine the often‐undiscussed issues related to cancel culture and how its unprecedented scale will likely be studied years from now in the same way we study the Red Scare or the Alien and Sedition Acts. But rather than a moral panic, he argues that we should consider it a dysfunctional part of how Americans battle for power, status, and dominance. Cancel culture is just one symptom of a much larger problem: the use of cheap rhetorical tactics to “win” arguments without actually winning arguments. After all, why bother refuting your opponents when you can just take away their platform or career?
The good news that The Canceling of the American Mind provides is that we can beat back this threat to liberal values and democracy through better citizenship. Lukianoff offers concrete steps toward reclaiming a culture of free speech that goes beyond mere legal protections. In so doing, we can all show intellectual humility and promote the essential American principles of individuality, resilience, and open mindedness.
Please join us for a fascinating discussion of cancel culture, its impact on our society and politics, and what the free speech response should be.
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