Hello, dear listener. I'm Megan, host of this series. And before we get into the show,

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about our sponsor, Fire, the foundation for individual

rights and expression. We live in a moment when free speech, the bedrock of our democracy

and of all free societies, is often viewed as suspect, where many argue that the right

to free speech is too dangerous, and that even listening to ideological opponents is morally

wrong. Many people just don't see a problem with using the law, corporate power, and even

extraordinary social pressure to censor viewpoints they disagree with. But many of us feel

the cost of all this in our everyday lives. We feel it when we self-sensor, afraid to say

what we really think. Sometimes even in private conversations with friends or loved ones, we

feel it when we opt out of a growing number of public discussions, afraid of the potential

cost to our jobs and even our relationships. Fire shares a mission with this show. To remind

us why a culture of free speech in open dialogue matters, and regardless of how loud the calls

for censorship are, fire's defense of that culture is unshakable and invaluable. And

if you want to remember why we choose freedom, even for people we strenuously disagree

with, you can learn more about fire's incredible work at thefire.org. And now, onto the show.

This episode contains explicit language and references to sexual violence. It is not suitable

for young listeners. So when I first became interested and then deeply troubled by what I saw

as a cultural movement that was illiberal in its methods and was very questionable in its ideas,

I absolutely knew that if I spoke out, many people who had loved my books would be deeply

unhappy with me. I knew that. I knew because I knew that they, I could see that they believed

they were living the values that I had espoused in those books. I could tell that they believed

they were fighting for underdogs and difference and fairness. And I thought it would be easier not

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