Living Freedom: ’Online harms to trigger warnings: safetyism versus freedom.’

Trigger warnings and microaggression policies have become
increasingly familiar on campus. But while we can snigger at
‘de-stressing parties’ with colouring books, are students any
different from the rest of society? After all, many people
believe we face an unprecedented range of threats. Anxiety allied
to yearning for safety is evident in warnings over formula milk
and processed foods, panics over drink-spiking and catcalling,
and paranoid parenting that is creating a generation of ‘cotton
wool’ kids.


What happened to resilience and how do we explain our existential
insecurity? What is the balance between safety and freedom, and
how do we successfully argue for taking risks? In the face of
society-wide preoccupation with safety, what are the arguments we
need today to renew the case for liberty?


SPEAKERS


Ella Whelan, journalist; co-convenor of the Battle of Ideas
Festival


READ ON


Letter on Liberty: The case for women’s freedom Ella Whelan,
Academy of Ideas, July 2022
https://academyofideas.org.uk/letters-on-liberty-the-case-for-womens-freedom/


Letter on Liberty: Beyond the Harm Principle Rob Lyons, Academy
of Ideas
https://academyofideas.org.uk/letters-on-liberty-beyond-the-harm-principle/


The danger of safetyism Matthew Crawford, UnHerd, 15 May 2021
https://unherd.com/2020/05/the-hypocrisy-of-safetyism/


LIVING FREEDOM


Living Freedom exists to renew freedom through education and
debate, offering young adults the opportunity to explore ideas
and debate ideals as they relate to the past, present, and future
of freedom. See https://livingfreedom.org.uk/ and
@LivingFreedomUK


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