The Canceling of the American Mind

Why bother refuting your opponents, when you can just take away their platform or career?

Greg Lukianoff was one of the first to raise the alarm about the troubling social and psychological consequences of the growing intolerance of opposing viewpoints on university campuses in America; a phenomenon which then swept through the English-speaking world.

In this new book, he teams up with Rikki Schlott to show how this trend has spread to a wide range of workplaces and cultural spaces, which are giving up on a culture of free speech in favour of cancel culture. Drawing on original research and data, along with hundreds of new examples from publishing to psychotherapy, comedy, science and medicine, this book shows how the left and the right both work to silence their enemies in different ways. It's not simply a matter of Twitter spats; people are losing their jobs, livelihoods and sometimes their lives over it.

Eye-opening, urgent and transformative, The Canceling of the American Mind argues that cancel culture is not merely a moral panic, but a dysfunctional way in which people battle for power, status and dominance: moving us away from being able to argue productively, listen generously and ultimately be civil when we disagree. This book offers concrete steps towards reclaiming a culture of free speech, with materials specifically tailored for parents, teachers, business leaders and all those who use social media. It shows how we can all harness intellectual humility to become more resilient and open minded.

Review

No one has documented the facts and causes of this alarming trend more thoroughly than Greg Lukianoff, joined here by a collaborator, Rikki Schlott -- Steven Pinker ― author of Rationality

Brilliant, an essential book... takes us one step further than simply describing and analyzing the problem. They offer serious, rational, and cogent solutions -- Ayaan Hirsi Ali ― author of Heretic

Important and very timely... it should be required reading for everyone who believes in freedom of speech -- Piers Morgan ― author Wake Up

Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott make an inconvertible case: If we had set out as a society to generate a doctrine designed specifically to demoralize young people-to deprive them of hope and fill them with anxiety-we could not have done better than Cancel Culture, which emphasizes victimhood, emotional fragility, a penchant for avoidance and the absolute right to self-conceptualization. We've enabled the purveyors of malicious gossip, the reputation-savagers, the masters of innuendo-and allowed them to cloak themselves in the guise of compassion. Lukianoff and Schlott are rightly calling on all of us to stand up and say so -- Jordan B. Peterson ― author of 12 Rules for Life

Cancel Culture is very real and very dangerous - and this book is the most comprehensive look at the rot threatening our institutions and freedoms -- Ben Shapiro ― founder of The Daily Wire

A humanizing and passionate cry for intellectual independence and those who want to think and speak for themselves -- Andrew Yang ― co-founder of the Forward Party

This riveting book presents compelling stories about Cancel Culture and its devastating impact ... a game-changer in the Culture Wars -- Nadine Strossen ― former president of the ACLU

bold, timely and buttressed by data ― The Economist

About the Author

Greg Lukianoff (Author)
Greg Lukianoff is a lawyer, First Amendment expert and President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. He is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind and the author of Unlearning Liberty and Freedom From Speech.

Rikki Schlott (Author)
Rikki Schlott is a journalist and political commentator. She is a columnist at the New York Post and co-host of the Lost Debate podcast, as well as a former research fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.