Today is the seventh anniversary of the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices. 12 people died at the hands of Islamist fundamentalists. Let’s remember the courage of those cartoonists by republishing their work.
Category: Free Speech
Je Suis (still) Charlie
DisCon III Prefers China Over Raytheon
In a stunning display of hypocrisy, the chair of DisCon III apologizes for accepting sponsorship from Raytheon, days after Chengdu, China was selected as the site for the 2023 WorldCon. Apparently a dictatorship that is running actual concentration camps for Uyghur Muslims and implementing oppressive anti-free speech policies in Hong Kong is morally acceptable but the space exploration branch of a defense contractor is not.
Instead of returning the money, the DisCon III leadership chose to make a donation to an unnamed “organization dedicated to peace.” Ethics is clearly not these organizers’ strong suit.
WorldCon 2023 Will Be In Chengdu, China
Sign the MIT Free Speech Alliance’s Petition
Join the MIT Free Speech Alliance and sign their Change.Org petition to reinstate Dorian Abbot’s Carlson Lecture.
An Open Letter to MIT
Professor van der Hilst of MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences cancelled this year’s Carlson Lecture and disinvited Dr. Dorian Abbot in response to a Twitter mob that objected to Dr. Abbot’s completely mainstream views on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. This is the letter I sent to MIT’s leadership regarding this pathetic lack of academic integrity.
President Reif, Provost Schmidt, and Professor van der Hilst,
I am writing in response to President Reif’s October 18th email to the MIT community and Provost Schmidt’s October 7th post supporting Professor van Der Hilst’s unjustifiable decision to cancel Dr. Dorian Abbot’s invitation to give this year’s Carlson Lecture.
Both President Reif and Provost Schmidt speak of MIT’s commitment to freedom of expression and both immediately show themselves to be hypocrites by backing Professor van der Hilst’s craven response to the mob seeking to silence Dr. Abbot. I have always been proud to call MIT my alma mater, until now. I am deeply ashamed of the lack of courage and integrity demonstrated by MIT’s leadership — you all should be as well.
The Academic Freedom Alliance, in their second letter to you, put it well: “Once a university has extended an invitation to a speaker to speak to members of the campus community, the university must not rescind that invitation because some object that the speaker or ideas that the speaker has expressed are unacceptable.”
I urge you in the strongest terms to reverse this cowardly act, apologize to Dr. Abbot, and reinstate the lecture. John Chisholm, former Alumni Association president and member of the MIT Corporation, provided three steps that you should take immediately to start undoing the damage to MIT’s reputation:
1) Admit you made a mistake and apologize for it.
2) Affirm MIT’s commitment to free speech and open scientific inquiry.
3) Review your internal processes and practices to identify opportunities to be more welcoming and inclusive of diverse viewpoints.
Doubling down on your refusal to live up to MIT’s principles is unacceptable. Until MIT again becomes an institution worthy of respect, I will refrain from donating to the school and I will encourage all alumni I know to do the same.
Sincerely,
Patrick May
Challenging Ideas Are Not Unsafe
“Speech is not violence. It is how we avoid violence. Speech is how we negotiate with one another in a pluralistic society. The distinction between words and deeds is foundational to American law. It’s foundational to American democracy.”
— Christina Hoff Sommers
Speech Is Not Violence
The Real Division
“The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.”
— George Orwell