Free Speech, Hate Speech & "The Marketplace of Ideas"

I wasn't able to book the side room at the Good Karma Café, so I've switched our meeting place to an outdoor venue -- the Washington Square Park, between 6th & 7th Streets on Walnut in Olde City. Luckily, I checked the weather report and it should be nice & sunny, and although it'll be in the low 80s there's plenty of shaded areas in the park. If you don't want to sit on the grass, just bring a folding chair or picnic blanket to sit on. You can also bring any type of food or drink you want, although I don't think alcohol is allowed in the park.

The park is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 1 block west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE SCIENCE BEHIND FREE SPEECH, HATE SPEECH & THE "MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS"

This meetup will address the current debates over free speech and hate speech from a scientific perspective. We'll start by evaluating the idea of the "marketplace of ideas" which assumes that facts will outcompete misinformation in the long run, then we'll see if tolerance outcompetes prejudice over time. Then we'll look at the evidence for & against the idea that hate speech & microaggressions causes real, long-lasting harm. We'll finish up with a look at what psychology can tell us about why people hold stereotypes & engage in hate speech, as well as some of the underlying factors that may contribute to some people favoring the principle of free speech while others are more concerned with stopping hate speech.

The videos you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of the major points in the debates over these subjects. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to watch all the videos & read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the videos linked first under each topic, which come to about 39 minutes total. I realize that's a bit more time than some of you may be able to commit, but don't worry - just watch as much as you can. The articles are there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the 4 topics in the order presented here and we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

WILL MOST PEOPLE CHANGE THEIR MINDS WHEN THEY'RE PRESENTED WITH NEW FACTS, OR DOES COGNITIVE DISSONANCE & THE BACKFIRE EFFECT PREVENT THIS? DOES THE "MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS" WORK IN THE SHORT TERM, OR DO WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR PARADIGM SHIFTS & RELY ON "PLANCK'S PRINCIPLE" (I.E. TRUTH ADVANCING ONE FUNERAL AT A TIME)?

1. Michael Shermer, "Fighting The Backfire Effect (Cognitive Dissonance)" (video - 4:33 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKoSFtvzOaY

• Elizabeth Kolbert, "Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds. New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason." (medium-length article)

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds

• Alexios Mantzarlis w/ Ethan Porter & Thomas Wood, "Fact-checking doesn’t ‘backfire,’ new study suggests" (medium-length article)

http://www.poynter.org/2016/fact-checking-doesnt-backfire-new-study-suggests/436983/

• Samuel Arbesman, "Why Do Great Ideas Take So Long to Spread?" (short article)

https://hbr.org/2012/11/why-do-great-ideas-take-so-lon

• Robert Gebelhoff, "Are scientists blocking their own progress?" (short article)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/12/21/are-scientists-blocking-their-own-progress/?utm_term=.50af06fa9e7b

• Diane Swanbrow, "U.S. public's knowledge of science: getting better but a long way to go" (short article)

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/8265-u-s-public-s-knowledge-of-science-getting-better-but-a-long-way-to-go

BUILDING RAPPORT VS. SHAMING & THE "EMPATHIC FALLACY": CAN WE REDUCE PEOPLE'S PREJUDICES THROUGH CONVERSATION, OR DOES ALLOWING THE DISCUSSION OF PREJUDICES JUST REINFORCE & SPREAD THEM? ARE RACISM & HOMOPHOBIA DECLINING IN THE LONG TERM?

2a) Morning Joe w/ David Broockman & David Fleischer, "Door-to-door canvassing and its impact on voters" (video - 7:12 min, start at 0:50)

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/door-to-door-canvassing-and-its-impact-on-voters-663414851678

2b) Learn Liberty, "Shaming Someone Doesn't Change Their Mind" (video - 1:57 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qU7KVTAMIU

• David Shih, "Hate Speech And The Misnomer Of 'The Marketplace Of Ideas'" (medium-length article)

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/05/03/483264173/hate-speech-and-the-misnomer-of-the-marketplace-of-ideas

• John Bohannon, "For real this time: Talking to people about gay and transgender issues can change their prejudices" (short article)

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/talking-people-about-gay-and-transgender-issues-can-change-their-prejudices

• Pew Research, "Growing Support for Gay Marriage: Changed Minds and Changing Demographics" (medium-length article)

http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/20/growing-support-for-gay-marriage-changed-minds-and-changing-demographics/

• Sean McElwee, "Millennials Are Less Racially Tolerant Than You Think" (short article)

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/01/millennials-are-less-tolerant-than-you-think.html

CAN HATE SPEECH CAUSE REAL HARM? IS THE CONCEPT OF "MICROAGGRESSIONS" EMPIRICALLY SOUND?

3a) Hank Green, "How Words Can Harm: Crash Course Philosophy #28" (video - 10:45 min, start at 1:29)

https://youtu.be/1ESU5ONMMxs?t=89

3b) Christina Hoff Sommers, "Microaggressions: Fact vs. Myth" (video - 6:26 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cir65niCkMM

• Lisa Feldman Barrett, "When Is Speech Violence?" (short article)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/opinion/sunday/when-is-speech-violence.html

• Ramesh Ponnuru, "There’s no brain science to college free speech" (short article)

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-18/there-s-no-brain-science-to-college-free-speech

• Jesse Singal, "How Microaggression Training Could Harm Minority Students" (medium-length article)

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/01/how-microaggression-training-could-harm-minority-students.html

WHAT CAN PSYCHOLOGY TELL US ABOUT WHY PEOPLE HOLD STEREOTYPES? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE UNDERLYING FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD SOME PEOPLE TO ENGAGE IN HATE SPEECH OR COMMIT "MICROAGGRESSIONS"? CAN SCIENCE HELP US TEASE OUT THE MOTIVES BEHIND PEOPLE'S OPINIONS ON FREE SPEECH & HATE SPEECH?

4a) Hank Green, "Prejudice & Discrimination: Crash Course Psychology #39" (video - 9:53 min, start at 1:53)

https://youtu.be/7P0iP2Zm6a4?t=113

4b) Anthony Carboni, "Is Your Face Racist?" (video - 2:35 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hius2OHxVR4

• Lee Jussim, "Stereotype Accuracy Is One of The Largest and Most Replicable Effects in All of Social Psychology" (medium-length article)

http://spsp.org/blog/stereotype-accuracy-response

• Geoffrey Miller, "The Neurodiversity Case for Free Speech" (medium-length article)

http://quillette.com/2017/07/18/neurodiversity-case-free-speech/

• Jesse Singal, "Are People Who Defend Free Speech More Racist Than Those Who Do Not?" (short article)

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/05/are-people-who-defend-free-speech-more-racist.html

• Razib Khan, "Less intelligent people want to exclude racists from the public square" (short article)

https://gnxp.nofe.me/2017/04/28/less-intelligent-people-want-to-exclude-racists-from-the-public-square/