Hearts & Minds: The tolerance paradox: a comms conundrum

It is a standard question for university philosophy students: should we tolerate the intolerant? The answer is meant to discuss Karl Popper’s paradox that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant it risks destroying tolerance. In the past, rehearsing well-versed arguments would achieve a decent grade. Attempting to address the problem today is an invitation to enter a minefield – one that shows little sign of clearing and continues to heavily influence all comms.

A UK university has been fined a record £585,000 for failing to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom. This, when higher education is struggling financially. Although the regulator did say the penalty could have been higher, £3.7m, but for monetary pressures. Other institutions fear they too may face investigation and even heavier punishment.

The issue they face is that they have implemented policies designed to prevent harassment and hate speech on their campuses. Their difficulty is upholding laws guaranteeing freedom of speech and academic freedom while cracking down on abusive, bullying content and material. In the US, says the Foundation for Individual Rights of Expression (Fire), the number of deplatforming attempts quadrupled between 2010 and 2017, fell in the pandemic, and then climbed to 137 incidents in 2023. Last year, there were 193. As a result, says Fire, 17% of American students feel unable to express their opinion on a subject on at least two occasions a week because of how their fellow students, a professor, or the administration will react.

Corporates everywhere are in a similar bind. Everyone is afraid of the complaint that hits the media and goes on to cause the full-blown, legal challenge played out under the spotlight. By then, of course, it may be too late and cancel culture will already have kicked in.

The tendency is to over-complicate, to come up with a code that is detailed and all-embracing, with an enforcement regime that is complex and heavy-handed. A simple, direct approach could suffice just as well. Admittedly, it takes nerve and the last thing you want is to be accused of complacency.

During the outbreak there were notices galore about keeping distance, wearing masks, washing hands, often with graphics. At one golf club, they put a trestle table by the first tee. On it was a bottle of hand wash and a sign that read: ‘Covid – use your common sense’. They achieved exactly the same outcome.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.