The Silencing (31 page)

It’s strange isn’t it, that illiberal feminists seem obsessed with sexual “freedom,” while at the same time wanting to have every aspect of it regulated by the government, practically requiring a court order. It’s odd that they “slut-shame” and “sex-shame” their female opponents in ways that they would condemn in a man, or any ideological opponent. Illiberal feminists seem at war with nature, with the facts, and with truth. Most of
all, they are at war with the freedom of speech and of legal due process that allows us to find the truth.

EPILOGUE

A
s I was finishing this book, I attended a dinner party where three of the guests had firsthand experience with the illiberal left’s silencing campaign. A retired Stanford professor and a current Harvard Law School student, both evangelical Christians and conservatives, described being intimidated into silence on their respective campuses. Like the “closeted conservatives” New York University Professor Jonathan Haidt discovered in his research, they felt forced to hide their religious and political beliefs lest they be discriminated against or ostracized. A third dinner guest—a former professor at a Washington, D.C., area university—was passed over for a position because she was suspected (correctly) of being conservative. This is in writing.

A few days later, I participated in an Oxford-style debate
¹
hosted by Intelligence Squared in Washington, D.C. FIRE’s president Greg Lukianoff and I argued in favor of the motion, “Liberals are stifling intellectual diversity on campuses.” Arguing against was George Mason University
professor Jeremy Meyer and Angus Johnston, an historian of student activism.

Greg and I won the debate. But such victories are bittersweet. There is little pleasure in making a persuasive case that people on the left side of the political spectrum are intimidating and demonizing others into silence.

Just as disheartening was realizing how great a chasm of disagreement exists on this topic. Meyer cited research from a 2008 book he co-authored—
Closed Minds
²
—which found that even though liberals outnumber conservatives within faculty ranks, 85 percent of conservatives surveyed argued that ideology played no role in tenure in their departments.

Personally, I have not encountered a single conservative academic who believes there is no ideological bias at the college or university at which they are or were employed. Instead, I’m inundated with chilling stories from fair-minded and brilliant academics who would like to just do their research and teach their students without the thought police on their tails. Moreover, the illiberal prejudices of predominantly liberal colleges and universities are too well documented to ignore.

Meyer argued that the reason liberals overwhelmingly outnumber conservatives in academia isn’t because of anything liberals are doing; it’s because conservatives only care about making money, are hostile to science, and embrace anti-intellectualism.
³

Gee, why would any conservative be worried about discrimination in academia with attitudes like that?

As I listened to this kind of talk, it occurred to me that the only way any person could believe what Meyer was saying was if they had no meaningful relationships with conservatives. One visit to my church would dispel all three of his claims. A little research into evangelical ministries would lay to rest the idea that conservatives only care about making money. And perhaps he’d like to meet my aforementioned dinner party companions to discuss the anti-intellectualism charge.

It seemed even odder to hear Meyer’s argument as I sat next to Greg, a liberal atheist who receives phone calls every week from people seeking
legal representation to protect them from actions taken due to ideological or anti-religious bias in higher education. As Greg noted in his opening statement, there is this unfortunate truth: “If you’re going to be censored on the modern college campus for your opinion, chances are you’re going to be censored by the Left.”

The Intelligence Squared debate was focused narrowly on higher education, but our opponents’ arguments were familiar. I regularly hear them from journalists who insist that the lack of conservatives in the mainstream media has nothing to do with the behavior of the overwhelming number of liberals who populate that profession. They claim there is no bias in how they cover the news, even as they acknowledge there is a complete lack of ideological and political diversity in the newsroom. It’s not uncommon to hear members of the media make assertions similar to Meyer’s by stereotyping conservatives and evangelicals as greedy flat-earthers.

I’ve chronicled in this book the myriad ways such a hostile and baseless bias has seeped into our culture. We’ve seen an Internet executive forced from his job for a private donation to a same-sex marriage initiative and a fast-food employee verbally accosted for working at Chick-fil-A. By this time next year there will likely be another ream of examples of illiberal silencing. So, what can be done?

The first step toward change is to acknowledge the problem. I hope this book will serve as a starting place for such an acknowledgment among sincere liberals. While the illiberal left likely will not be swayed from their silencing campaign, the more open-minded liberals who provide aid and comfort to them might be.

David French, a free speech advocate who currently serves as senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), shared a story with me recently that illustrates how this might work. French, a Harvard Law School graduate and evangelical Christian, was serving on the admissions committee of Cornell Law School when a student hailing from a religious college was put up for consideration. “I’ll never forget watching the committee almost vote to reject an incredibly qualified candidate
because—and they put this in writing—they didn’t want a ‘Bible thumping’ student who might be a member of the ‘God squad,’” French told me. After French confronted the committee, noting that his own background was similar to the applicant’s, they appeared chagrined and ultimately accepted the student.

But what if French hadn’t been there? The student almost certainly would have been rejected.

“That episode taught me a couple things,” said French. “First, anti-Christian discrimination can be reflexive; and second, a little bit of true intellectual diversity can go a long way towards reversing its effects. Those folks were my friends, yet their biases were deeply ingrained.”

The moral of this story is simple: we should all make efforts to invite people who hold different views into our worlds. Contrary to popular thought, familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. It breeds understanding and tolerance. Now, go make some unlikely friends.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1
.
      
Gary A. Tobin and Aryeh K. Weinberg, “Profiles of the American University: Volume II: Religious Beliefs & Behavior of College Faculty,” Institute for Jewish & Community Research, 2007,
http://www.jewishresearch.org/PDFs2/FacultyReligion07.pdf
.

2
.
      
José L. Duarte et al., “Political Diversity Will Improve Social Psychological Science,”
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
(Cambridge University Press, 2014),
https://journals.cambridge.org/images/fileUpload/documents/Duarte-Haidt_BBS-D-14-00108_preprint.pdf
.

CHAPTER ONE: REPRESSIVE TOLERANCE

1
.
      
“Transcription of ‘Challenging the Ideological Echo Chamber: Free Speech, Civil Discourse and the Liberal Arts,’”
Smith Sophian
, October 13, 2014,
http://www.thesmithsophian.com/2014/10/13/transcription-of-challenging-the-ideological-echo-chamber-free-speech-civil-discourse-and-the-liberal-arts/
.

2
.
      
Ibid.

3
.
      
Leah Willingham, “Smith College Community Reacts to Racially-Charged Remark by Alumna,”
Mount Holyoke News
, October 22, 2014,
http://mountholyokenews.org/2014/10/11/smith-college-community-reacts-to-racially-charged-remark-by-alumna/
.

4
.
      
“Transcription of ‘Challenging the Ideological Echo Chamber.’”

5
.
      
Willingham, “Smith College Community Reacts.”

6
.
      
Ibid.

7
.
      
Jordan Houston, “5 Ways to Use White Privilege as an Ally,” Huffington Post, October 15, 2014, updated December 15, 2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jordan-houston/5-ways-to-use-white-privi_b_5991622.html
.

8
.
      
Fredrik deBoer, “Bingo Cards Go Both Ways,”
FredrikdeBoer.com
, April 29, 2014,
http://fredrikdeboer.com/2014/04/29/bingo-cards-go-both-ways/
.

9
.
      
“Tell the
Washington Post
: Don’t Promote Climate Change Denial” petition, Forecast The Facts website,
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/sign/tell_washpost_dontpublishlies/
; “110K Call on the
Washington Post
to End Climate Change Denial in Its Editorial Page,” Forecast The Facts website, February 20, 2014,
http://forecastthefacts.org/press/releases/2014/2/20/110k-call-washington-post-end-climate-change-denia/
.

10
.
    
Philip Caulfield, “Forbes Sacks Columnist over Piece Saying ‘Drunk’ Female Students Pose ‘Gravest’ Threat to Frats; Writer Responds, ‘I Stand by Every Word,’”
New York Daily News
, September 24, 2014,
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/forbes-columnist-sacked-piece-drunk-female-guests-grave-threat-frats-writer-responds-article-1.1951124
; “Tell the
Washington Post
: Fire George Will” petition, UltraViolet,
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/cms/sign/Fire_George_Will/
; as seen on
On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
, “Student Says His Home Was Egged & He Was Fired for Conservative Column,” Fox News, December 18, 2014,
http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/12/18/student-says-his-home-was-egged-he-was-fired-conservative-column
.

11
.
    
Mike Allen, “Fox ‘Not Really News,’ Says Axelrod,”
Politico
, October 18, 2009,
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28417.html#ixzz2IYVABVlp
.

12
.
    
David Martosko, “Left-Wing Foundations Lavish Millions on Media Matters,” Daily Caller, February 17, 2012,
http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/17/left-wing-foundations-lavish-millions-on-media-matters/
;
Media Matters for America (MMFA),
DiscovertheNetworks.org
,
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7150
.

13
.
    
Ben Smith, “Media Matters’ War against Fox,”
Politico
, updated March 27, 2011,
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51949.html
.

14
.
    
“Media Matters 2012: A Three-Year Campaign,” Media Matters for America, available on Scribd, 40,
https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/81500388?access_key=key-24nmzdhkwvvpj2lmcndy&allow_share=true&escape=false&view_mode=scroll
; “Media Matters’ ‘War on Fox’ Memo,” Buzzfeed, February 13, 2012,
http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/media-matters-war-on-fox-memo#.neYAQ7NpG
.

15
.
    
Ari Cohn, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, February 24, 2015.

16
.
    
Greg Lukianoff,
Freedom from Speech
(New York: Encounter Books, 2014).

17
.
    
David Mark, “Contracting Out U.S. Security? And Will Branding Tea Party ‘Racist’ Work?,”
Politico
, July 20, 2010,
http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Mary_Frances_Berry_91E3D9D5-C40D-440C-9D48-1C50CBC60C87.html
.

18
.
    
“Maher vs. Muslim Journo on Berkeley Speech: ‘Whoever Told You You Only Had to Hear What Didn’t Upset You?,” RealClearPolitics, October 31, 2014,
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/10/31/maher_vs_muslim_guest_on_berkeley_speech_whoever_told_you_you_only_had_to_hear_what_didnt_upset_you.html
.

19
.
    
Matt Wilstein, “Bill Maher Calls Out ‘Bullshi*t’ Petition ahead of Berkeley Speech,”
Mediaite
, December 4, 2014,
http://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-maher-calls-out-bullsht-petition-ahead-of-berkeley-speech/
.

20
.
    
“Mozilla Leadership Changes,”
Mozilla Blog
, March 24, 2014,
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/24/mozilla-leadership-changes/
.

21
.
    
Brendan Eich, “Community and Diversity,”
BrendanEich.com
, April 5, 2012,
https://brendaneich.com/2012/04/community-and-diversity/
.

22
.
    
“Proposition 8: Who Gave in the Gay Marriage Battle?,”
Los Angeles Times
,
http://projects.latimes.com/prop8/donation/8930/
.

23
.
    
Deborah Netburn, “Brendan Eich’s Prop. 8 Contribution Gets Twittersphere Buzzing,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 4, 2012,
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/04/business/la-fi-tn-brendan-eich-prop-8-contribution-20120404
.