Freedom of speech is a bedrock principle throughout the Western world, but increasingly it is being challenged — on college campuses, among intellectuals and in politics — in the name of preventing “hate” speech or offensive speech, or protecting allegedly “marginalized” groups. Why is this happening, and what does it mean for the future of free speech?
If you’re toiling over your tax returns as the filing deadline approaches, why not pause to read Yaron Brook’s take on why you would be justified in feeling resentful of the tax code’s many manipulations.
The year 2017 marks the 60th publication anniversary of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, so we’re talking to the authors of chapters in Robert Mayhew’s book Essays on Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” First up is Edwin A. Locke, whose chapter “The Traits of Business Heroes in Atlas Shrugged” focuses on character traits and moral virtues shared by the novel’s many business heroes, such as Hank Rearden, Francisco d’Anconia and Dagny Taggart.
Today, college students’ attitude toward free speech ranges from ambivalence to outright hostility. They cry “microaggression” at the slightest offense. They demand “trigger warnings” and “safe spaces” to protect themselves from controversial ideas. They attempt to ban speakers at public universities and support other bans on speech.
This video moment from the Ayn Rand Institute highlights novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand’s escape from Soviet Russia and why she chose to build a new life in America.
Was President Trump right or wrong in deciding to bomb a Syrian airfield in retaliation for the government’s use of chemical weapons against citizens? When a similar question arose in 2013 on President Obama’s watch, Ayn Rand Institute executive chairman Yaron Brook recorded this prescient video, questioning whether the use of chemical weapons threatens American interests.
