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Defending Free Speech by Steve Simpson, Onkar Ghate, Leonard Peikoff & Elan Journo

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Defending Free Speech

Selected Commentary by the Ayn Rand Institute

by Steve Simpson, Onkar Ghate, Leonard Peikoff & Elan Journo

Narrator Chris Abell

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Length 3 hours 52 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the authors

Freedom of speech is indispensable to a free and civilized society, yet this precious right is increasingly under attack today.

Islamic totalitarians repeatedly threaten and kill those deemed blasphemers while our political leaders stand idly by—and many intellectuals blame the victims. College students seek “trigger warnings” and “safe spaces” from controversial ideas. The government harasses tea party groups, preventing them from speaking out during an election, and it investigates oil companies and advocacy groups for the “crime” of dissenting from climate change orthodoxy.

Why is this happening? What can be done?

This hard-hitting collection provides answers. Applying Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism to the most pressing free speech issues of the day, the essays in this book reveal the attacks on free speech to be the product of destructive ideas—ideas that are eroding Western culture at its foundation. They expose those ideas and the individuals who hold them, and, importantly, they identify the only ideas on which Western civilization can be sustained: reason, egoism, and individual rights.

Politics & Economy Nonfiction Law

Steve Simpson, a former constitutional litigator, is the director of legal studies at the Ayn Rand Institute.

Onkar Ghate is senior fellow, chief content officer, and a board member of the Ayn Rand Institute. He specializes in Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and is ARI’s senior instructor and editor. He publishes and lectures on Rand’s philosophy and fiction, including application of Objectivism in the culture, and has been a guest on national radio and television programs.

Leonard Peikoff is universally recognized as the preeminent Rand scholar writing today. He worked closely with Ayn Rand for thirty years and was designated by her as heir to her estate. He has taught philosophy at Hunter College, Long Island University, and New York University. Peikoff for many years lectured on Rand’s philosophy throughout the country. He lives in Southern California.

Elan Journo is a fellow and director of policy research at the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the author of What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, a contributor to Defending Free Speech, and editor of Winning the Unwinnable War.