After the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo in Paris and the lethal shootings at a free speech event in Copenhagen, some Western intellectuals are now raising the question whether we, in the West, are guilty of abusing our free speech.
We at the Ayn Rand Institute regard free speech as essential to a free society; you can’t have one without the other. That’s why we have a long and proud history of taking an uncompromising and unequivocal stand for free speech.
Cronyism is on everyone’s lips these days. The conventional view is that wealthy “special interests” — typically businesses — use their resources to influence elections and “game the system.” The result is special favors for them at the expense of everyone else. Ours is a government not of, by, and for the people, this view holds, but of, by, and for the “special interests.” Our system is not capitalism, they claim, but “crony-capitalism.”
At the core of ARI’s work is the goal of reaching students, encouraging them to rethink conventional ideas, and educating them about reason, individualism, and capitalism. Here are two snapshots of ARI intellectuals doing just that.
On today’s episode of the Yaron Brook Show, “Why I Hate Washington, DC,” Yaron discusses his changing views of the nation’s capital. Some highlights: Why Yaron used to love DC and why his attitude has changed; the issue that Yaron predicts will dominate the 2016 election; how Objectivism differs from libertarianism; why Yaron loves classical music; the films that should win big next month at the Oscars.
The attack on Charlie Hebdo reminds us that Islamic terrorism remains a very dangerous phenomenon in the world. The reaction to the attack, and particularly the expressions of support for freedom of speech, are cause for some hope, but attitudes about Islamist doctrine and the terrorism it spawns still range from dangerously naïve to frighteningly sympathetic.
We are pleased to announce a panel discussion at Rutgers University on January 22 featuring Flemming Rose and ARI’s Onkar Ghate: “Freedom of Speech or the Tyranny of Silence?” The panel will include Robert Shibley, Senior Vice-President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. The moderator will be Dr. Gregory Salmieri. Dr. Salmieri is a philosophy fellow at The Anthem Foundation and teaches at Rutgers University and Stevens Institute of Technology.
On today’s episode of his new radio show, Yaron Brook discussed the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and others in Paris and what this means for the future of free speech in the West.
Join ARI and The Undercurrent on Wednesday, January 14, at 6:00 PM ET for a special students-only webinar with senior fellow Onkar Ghate, “Charlie Hebdo, the Danish Cartoons and Free Speech.”
