The article argues against censorship, emphasizing that the freedom of thought must include harmful ideas. Drawing on Joseph Alsop's words from 1953 regarding McCarthyism, it discusses the dangers of purging dissenting thoughts under the guise of protecting truth. It warns that such actions set a precedent for broader censorship and undermines individual freedoms and institutional integrity, particularly in academia. The relevance of these principles is highlighted in today's political climate, where dissenting viewpoints face suppression from various authorities.
It is precisely because any kind of purge opens the gate to all kinds of purge, that freedom of thought necessarily means the freedom to think bad thoughts as well as good.
The question is, rather, how we feel about the three great principles which have run, like threads of gold, through the long, proud Harvard story.
Unfortunately, however, the question that confronts us is not how we feel about Communists and ex-Communists.
...as the Trump administration cancels the visas of foreign students for viewpoints that it deems "bad."
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