Overcoming fear

It’s sad to say, but universities in North America are becoming spaces of fear. Silence is the sign of that fear. When you try to have a conversation about academic freedom or question some of the postulates of the so-called “social justice” ideology and the only thing that you have in front of you is a wall of silence, then you can conclude that fear is permeating academic life.  Media studies have an explanation for this. The spiral of silence, a theory proposed by the political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, says that people fear to be isolated when they assume that their opinions may differ from the prevalent and “morally acceptable” view of the majority. 

But there is something more in this silence. It’s a very primary need for survival. Being called racist or “white supremacist” (or its variant, being accused of supporting the structures of “white supremacy”), it’s one of the worst things that could happen to a scholar these days. You become stigmatized in the sense of having engraved on your forehead the mark of Cain. And you won’t be able to get rid of that stigma, even if you say over and over that you are not a racist, and certainly not a “white supremacist.”

Is there something that could be done to stop this inquisitorial crusade? Yes, talking about it, putting all the cards on the table, and pointing to the problem (instead of denying it). But this cannot just be an individual endeavour. Fear will be vanquished only if those who believe in the right to dissent, in the freedom to think, and in the power of reason make their voices heard in the public space. The other option – the resounding silence of fear – could mean the slow death of education and the victory of indoctrination.