If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. “On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill, 1859 Conway Hall has put up a debate on free speech and censorship at universities: “London Thinks – Trigger Warning!“. The participants were (left to right): Dr. Pam Lowe, Beatrix Campbell OBE, Samira Ahmed (moderator), Brendan O’Neill, and Bahar Mustafa. I found it an interesting debate — not in the sense that it answers questions (that’s not what a debate is for), but that it shows different perspectives and mindsets. (Not sure what happened around 15:26, did the video cut out for a second or was something removed?) Personally, I was very impressed by Brendan O’Neill. Not because his position is closest to mine, but because he switched to a meta perspective frequently. He actually did what a good moderator does — putting things in perspective and showing where the fault lines are (summarizing points and asking questions). And he made very good points, e.g., about the pathologization of legitimate moral viewpoints (I’d add that these topics are emotionally heated and [...]
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