In all of our countries at the moment in all the liberal Western democracies, we've become incredibly bad at talking and because we've become bad at talking we've become bad at thinking.

In the last few months there has been a flurry of loud

and angry debates about what can be said and what ideas can be expressed. Why did

the mob keep coming for people who misspoke on things to do with gender or race or sexuality.

And people learn from that. They learn not to speak.

Why do you believe you were fired?

That's the sort of dark stuff you get into

if you don't have a more honest conversation.

I think it's the self-appointed task of those of us

who do not have wobbly hierarchies over us to speak.

One of the things I think a lot of us have started to notice and become worried about in recent years

is weaponization of identity. You're not talking about politics. You are only

fighting a battle to win. I'm not up for equality and then pretend that men and women don't exist or that

gender is just something you perform. I'm not just agreeing to say whatever the crazy shit is that everyone's being told to say today.

They say that I'm the bigger. They don't mention that I'm gay because it doesn't help them. We have to find a way to de-derange

ourselves and get on to things that we ought to be doing. I don't think there's any

harm in open conversation.

We could answer lots of things we need to answer.

We could get to the truth.

We can do an immense amount of good with that as a species, as people. you're