TALIA BARNES

How social media destroys the things that matter most

Co-author: Luke Hallam

For Persuasion magazine

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"Freedom has value because it allows us to find structure, while structure has value because it helps us to exercise freedom. Only through a healthy relationship with both do we feel empowered and connected."

Rising censorship, falling trust: How lack of transparency erodes trust in higher ed and beyond

For FIRE's Newsdesk

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"Can we trust the leaders of our once-venerated institutions to uphold and consistently apply the principles that once earned them widespread respect? Or are policies and their selective enforcement just determined by a giant game of public-pressure tug-of-war?"

Forbidden food for thought: how attempts to control media consumption backfire

For FIRE's Newsdesk

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"Testing boundaries and exploring the unknown is a natural part of individuation, the process by which people come to learn their own capabilities, limitations, and values." 

Some lessons from the sorry history of campus speech codes

Co-author: Greg Lukianoff

For Persuasion magazine

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"Those who take for granted that hate speech should be policed on Twitter would do well to learn the history of attempts to police hate speech on campuses in the United States. Some readers may be surprised to learn that American universities have attempted to regulate hate speech for four decades now: This real-world experiment has shown how subjective and nebulous restrictions chill speech in often-surprising ways."

Cancel culture empowers the powerful — at everyone else's expense

Co-author: Robert Shibley

For FIRE's Newsdesk

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"Normalizing the idea that institutions should 'cancel' people for unpopular speech hands those institutions an expanded breadth of discretionary power. Left free to selectively enforce policies in the manner those in charge find most palatable or convenient, the powerful are further empowered to crack down on anything they don’t like."

Speak your mind, but not like that: Are we all hypocrites when it comes to cancel culture?

For FIRE's Newsdesk

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"Recognizing that minds can be changed with time and through empathy should be a comfort to those who recognize that cancel culture is a problem, yet strongly oppose particular points of view, because it opens the door to a sort of “cancellation” that doesn’t require coercion or silencing: genuinely convincing someone they’re wrong."