Tom Nichols
@radiofreetom.bsky.social
Staff writer at The Atlantic. Cat guy, democracy defender. Actor for a day on Succession, Jeopardy champ. New Englander and curmudgeon.
Pinned
Pete Hegseth Should Sit This One Out
By inserting himself into the situation in Minnesota, the secretary of defense is only making things worse.
www.theatlantic.com
"Pete Hegseth might consider adding another task to his many duties, one that would be of immense help to the nation and to the armed forces: He should shut up."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
I spent the last few hours watching the final episode of His and Hers (which was *terrible*) and the next ep of "The Pitt" which is, yet again, awesome.
You guys have spent the afternoon fighting around the Paradox of Tolerance, Mill's On Liberty, and Locke's on Toleration.
I'll wuss out and say I don't this something one can simply set some easy rules for, and can be very context dependent.
I'll wuss out and say I don't this something one can simply set some easy rules for, and can be very context dependent.
January 31, 2026 at 2:18 AM
I spent the last few hours watching the final episode of His and Hers (which was *terrible*) and the next ep of "The Pitt" which is, yet again, awesome.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Agree. Michelle Obama said exactly this to Oberlin (my alma mater) students at a graduation a few years ago. I don't have problems with signs, applause or the occasional boo, silent back-turning, protesting outside the venue, but not disallowing others to hear.
January 31, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Agree. Michelle Obama said exactly this to Oberlin (my alma mater) students at a graduation a few years ago. I don't have problems with signs, applause or the occasional boo, silent back-turning, protesting outside the venue, but not disallowing others to hear.
To people asking me why I care about students behaving like ignorant louts: I wrote an entire chapter in The Death of Expertise explaining that part of our current disaster is because colleges failed in their efforts to remind students that they are there to learn, not to teach.
January 31, 2026 at 2:15 AM
To people asking me why I care about students behaving like ignorant louts: I wrote an entire chapter in The Death of Expertise explaining that part of our current disaster is because colleges failed in their efforts to remind students that they are there to learn, not to teach.
If the college invited him, take it up with the college, but turning college events into a shout-down just affirms that you're not there to learn, you're there to preach.
How about “people who reliably bear false witness should not be platformed” and their views amplified by people who have no affirmative obligation to platform them.
January 31, 2026 at 2:06 AM
If the college invited him, take it up with the college, but turning college events into a shout-down just affirms that you're not there to learn, you're there to preach.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Not sure I’d say it could NEVER be justifiable to shut down ANY speaker, no matter how vile. But if you’re breaking out the nuclear option for “liberal who mostly agrees with you but criticizes Israel in less vehement terms than you like,” you’re engaged in a gross performance to feel powerful.
I have never read that column, and did not know until now that Klein wrote it. (I have a lot of stuff to keep up on.)
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
Bluesky has issues with Ezra Klein. Can you explain to them what he meant by Charlie Kirk did politics the right way. He didn’t say he agreed with the beliefs of Charlie Kirk
January 31, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Not sure I’d say it could NEVER be justifiable to shut down ANY speaker, no matter how vile. But if you’re breaking out the nuclear option for “liberal who mostly agrees with you but criticizes Israel in less vehement terms than you like,” you’re engaged in a gross performance to feel powerful.
And remember, we all get to decide what's untrue and what's punching down, so just bring lots of bullhorns and let the loudest and most aggressive among us sort it all out, because that's definitely not how we got here
Shout people down if they are saying things that are untrue and punching down. It’s in the owners manual that you get to do that.
I have never read that column, and did not know until now that Klein wrote it. (I have a lot of stuff to keep up on.)
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
January 31, 2026 at 2:03 AM
And remember, we all get to decide what's untrue and what's punching down, so just bring lots of bullhorns and let the loudest and most aggressive among us sort it all out, because that's definitely not how we got here
It's not a matter of rights, it's a matter of value. If you're going to endorse interrupting people you've invited to speak, then why be a forum ideas? Why have speakers at all, when every group can claim the same privilege to interrupt and shout down the invitee? Why bother?
I don't subscribe to the idea that "rights" came into it at all. There is no right to speak at a college without being interrupted by college students.
If government were preventing a speaker to speak, then the "rights" talk would be appropriate.
If government were preventing a speaker to speak, then the "rights" talk would be appropriate.
January 31, 2026 at 2:01 AM
It's not a matter of rights, it's a matter of value. If you're going to endorse interrupting people you've invited to speak, then why be a forum ideas? Why have speakers at all, when every group can claim the same privilege to interrupt and shout down the invitee? Why bother?
I'm defending his right to speak on a college campus where he was invited to speak.
"People I don't like should not be heard" is probably not a principle you should be defending, ever, but especially not these days.
"People I don't like should not be heard" is probably not a principle you should be defending, ever, but especially not these days.
Because when you’re facing a fascist takeover, caping for a guy who wrote a column entitled, “Charlie Kirk Did Politics the Right Way” is definitely the way.
Sarah Lawrence kids shouting down Ezra Klein.
Because when you're facing a fascist takeover, shouting down a liberal at a college talk is definitely the way.
Because when you're facing a fascist takeover, shouting down a liberal at a college talk is definitely the way.
January 31, 2026 at 1:58 AM
I'm defending his right to speak on a college campus where he was invited to speak.
"People I don't like should not be heard" is probably not a principle you should be defending, ever, but especially not these days.
"People I don't like should not be heard" is probably not a principle you should be defending, ever, but especially not these days.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Louis Brandeis got here first and best, in 1927: “If there be a time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence”.
January 31, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Louis Brandeis got here first and best, in 1927: “If there be a time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence”.
What kind of weapons-grade narcissism has gotten loose in this country
Right, I'm with you Ezra is on the wrong team - he'll make excuses when our friends are swinging from the gallows
January 31, 2026 at 1:55 AM
What kind of weapons-grade narcissism has gotten loose in this country
witchcraft
You want them to listen, then ask questions afterwards? What demon logic are you espousing?
January 31, 2026 at 1:54 AM
witchcraft
Hecklers will always defend the Heckler’s veto
When someone says students should never shout down speakers, they're issuing a commandment that forecloses exactly the questions that matter:
What's the speaker advocating?
What power does the speaker have?
What's the magnitude of the disruption vs. the magnitude of the harm being protested?
etc
What's the speaker advocating?
What power does the speaker have?
What's the magnitude of the disruption vs. the magnitude of the harm being protested?
etc
I have never read that column, and did not know until now that Klein wrote it. (I have a lot of stuff to keep up on.)
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
And I couldn't care less: Shouting down speakers on campus is authoritarian bullshit and college students should never do it.
January 31, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Hecklers will always defend the Heckler’s veto
I’d also point out, as someone who has been doing speaking gigs for a decade, that the speaker gets paid whether people let them talk or not.
I like neither Ezra Klein nor shouting down speakers. I think Ezra Klein profits, metaphorically and literally, by being shouted down by Sarah Lawrence students, and that doing it to him was more or less like trying to discourage a dog by throwing bacon at it.
/1
/1
January 31, 2026 at 12:09 AM
I’d also point out, as someone who has been doing speaking gigs for a decade, that the speaker gets paid whether people let them talk or not.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Imagine aspiring to being an edgelord but being too cowardly to do it but still trying in public.
January 30, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Imagine aspiring to being an edgelord but being too cowardly to do it but still trying in public.
Personally, I wouldn’t invite him or go listen to him, but if your college invites him, you owe it to the other students who wanna hear him to let him speak. Because that’s part of living in a liberal democracy.
No you should definitely wait until after Curtis Yarvin is done speaking and then calmly explain to him that he's debased himself to the point of no longer being human and that as a soulless dead-eyed Nazi, his words simply have no meaning and disappear into the air
January 31, 2026 at 12:07 AM
Personally, I wouldn’t invite him or go listen to him, but if your college invites him, you owe it to the other students who wanna hear him to let him speak. Because that’s part of living in a liberal democracy.
What if you’re a professor? What if you’re a community activist? What if you’re just a citizen who wants to speak up and say something?
Should we start listing the professions that it’s OK to shout down?
Should we start listing the professions that it’s OK to shout down?
I may not like it or agree with it happening, but I stand by my comment that if you are a journalist this is a risk of the trade.
January 31, 2026 at 12:05 AM
What if you’re a professor? What if you’re a community activist? What if you’re just a citizen who wants to speak up and say something?
Should we start listing the professions that it’s OK to shout down?
Should we start listing the professions that it’s OK to shout down?
“If I am ever shouted down by a bunch of students, I will console myself that it was done with the best of intentions, and that another gig is just right down the road”
If that day ever happens, I realize it’s just idealistic young people who disagree with me, being passionate. Sure they are annoying twerps who won’t let me speak, but while I was invited one place, there are plenty of other forums and avenues to present my ideas
January 30, 2026 at 11:49 PM
“If I am ever shouted down by a bunch of students, I will console myself that it was done with the best of intentions, and that another gig is just right down the road”
The lengths people will go to justify shouting down the ability of other people to speak is really quite amazing.
By this reasoning, no one who is even remotely well-known should ever speak at a college campus.
By this reasoning, no one who is even remotely well-known should ever speak at a college campus.
1. You know perfectly well that there lots of students at elite colleges who grew up in poverty.
2. The newspaper columnist can reach millions with his/her voice and the students are certainly powerless in comparison.
2. The newspaper columnist can reach millions with his/her voice and the students are certainly powerless in comparison.
January 30, 2026 at 11:48 PM
The lengths people will go to justify shouting down the ability of other people to speak is really quite amazing.
By this reasoning, no one who is even remotely well-known should ever speak at a college campus.
By this reasoning, no one who is even remotely well-known should ever speak at a college campus.
Reposted by Tom Nichols
amazing how paper thin some people's commitment to liberal norms is
January 30, 2026 at 11:33 PM
amazing how paper thin some people's commitment to liberal norms is
We all grieve for the powerless children at elite colleges who can’t stop the powerful newspaper columnist from coming to their campus and accepting a speaking fee
I agree that students shouldn't shout down speakers, but "authoritarian" is not even close to the right word.
The shouting down of speakers (who typically have power and authority) by students (who typically have little or no power or authority) is the opposite of "authoritarian".
The shouting down of speakers (who typically have power and authority) by students (who typically have little or no power or authority) is the opposite of "authoritarian".
January 30, 2026 at 11:36 PM
We all grieve for the powerless children at elite colleges who can’t stop the powerful newspaper columnist from coming to their campus and accepting a speaking fee
This comment could’ve been posted over on X against liberal writers and no one would have to change a word of it
If you are a journalist writing about controversial topics I'd say 'risk of being shout down' should be part of the job description.
January 30, 2026 at 11:33 PM
This comment could’ve been posted over on X against liberal writers and no one would have to change a word of it
Reposted by Tom Nichols
Nobody seems to think the Heckler’s Veto cuts both ways. It’s basically a corollary of the face-eating leopards.
January 30, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Nobody seems to think the Heckler’s Veto cuts both ways. It’s basically a corollary of the face-eating leopards.
As I am, literally at this moment:
January 30, 2026 at 11:30 PM
As I am, literally at this moment:
How rigid have people become to think that the only way to express disagreement with the speaker is to march in and shut the speaker down so that no one else can hear him
How would you suggest dissenters express their dissent in these cases?
January 30, 2026 at 11:28 PM
How rigid have people become to think that the only way to express disagreement with the speaker is to march in and shut the speaker down so that no one else can hear him
My replies are not turned off, they are limited, because I don’t need 300 stupid drive-by comments from people showing up just to see if they can start a pile on.
it’s unbecoming to do this by QT but since replies are turned off: come on, man
I spent a few days having to fend off people who thought I was the devil for not liking “Pluribus”. think I can take a few minutes to complain about college kids acting like idiots.
January 30, 2026 at 11:25 PM
My replies are not turned off, they are limited, because I don’t need 300 stupid drive-by comments from people showing up just to see if they can start a pile on.