No, Jonathan Haidt is Not Like a Slavery Apologist
5th September 2019
In one sense, the argument is too silly to merit a serious response. The fact that defenders of slavery have in the past appealed to reason and civility no more discredits anyone who appeals to those values than the Nazis’ love of calisthenics discredits anyone who exercises. But the essay does raise, in an absurd, wrong-headed way, an interesting question about the fate of civility and free speech in a society that no longer operates on shared moral premises.
Just because Hitler liked something doesn’t make it bad. (Except for vegetarianism.)