Steven Pinker: They’re trying to cancel me

Freddie Sayers speaks to Steven Pinker, the world famous linguist and evolutionary psychologist, about an attempt to ‘cancel’ him and what that means for all of us. He told me about it, the open letter he has signed to Harpers magazine in defence of free speech, and the way in which ‘crazies’ from his university days went on to get tenure and have been indoctrinating students in extreme ideas ever since. Have a watch -- key quotes below: • “The suppression of free speech on intellectual and artistic life has created a chilling effect and I fear for the republic of ideas“ • “I hope the [Harper’s Letter] will contribute to a return to sanity, similar to that of the late 1960’s and early 70s” • “Nourishing the soul isn’t high on the agenda of enlightenment goals compared to reducing poverty, illiteracy and violence etc” • “There are some cosmically ironic similarities between Right-wing authoritarianism and the illiberal Left because they both adhere to racial identity politics”. • “Bad ideas that could be ref