- 本文譯自左派刊物《哈潑斯雜誌》（Harper’s Magazine）
- 英文標題：A Letter on Justice and Open Debate
- Francis Zhou 譯
- 英文原文參見文末的「閱讀原文」
- 按語：隨著美國的左翼運動愈演愈烈，自由派、溫和左派開始擔心這一運動會危及美國的言論自由。這是左派刊物《哈潑斯雜誌》發表該公開信的社會背景。值得一提的是，喬姆斯基、J.K.羅琳、史蒂芬·平克、福山都是這封公開信的簽名人。在美國政治趨於「極化」的當下，這封公開信頗有象徵意義。故推送此文，供朋友們參考。
我們的文化機構正在面臨考驗。支持種族正義和社會正義的強力抗議活動提出了姍姍來遲的改革警察制度的要求，同時，它還呼籲在全社會實現更大程度的平等和包容——包括但不限於高等教育、新聞、慈善和藝術領域。但這一必要的清算（reckoning）也強化了一套新式的道德態度和政治承諾，它為了維持意識形態的統一傾向於削弱公開辯論的準則和對異見的寬容。我們贊同前一種發展，但反對後一種發展。反自由主義（illiberalism）的力量正在全世界範圍內增長，而且得到了川普這個強大的盟友，他對民主制度構成了真實的威脅。但是，我們不能容許抵抗運動（resistance）淪為自己版本的教條或強制——右翼煽動家已經開始利用這一點。只有透過公開反對不寬容的氣候（充斥於社會的各個方面），我們才能實現我們所想要的民主包容（democratic inclusion）。
資訊和思想的自由交換——自由主義社會的命脈——正日益受到限制。儘管我們已經預料到它會來自激進右翼，但這種審查在我們（左翼）這邊的文化中也越來越普遍：不寬容相反的觀點、公開羞辱和排斥變得流行、傾向於把複雜的政策問題化約成盲目的道德確信。對來自各方面的有力的乃至刻薄的反對意見，我們承認其價值。但現在，一聽到冒犯性的言論和思想便呼籲立即予以嚴懲，這種情況變得很常見。更讓人不安的是，機構的領導者們，在驚慌失措之下為了止損，往往急匆匆給出過重的懲罰而不是深思熟慮的改革。編輯們因為刊登爭議文章而丟掉飯碗；書籍因為發表據說不準確的內容而被撤稿；記者被禁止報導某些話題；教授因為引用經典文獻而被調查；一位研究者因為傳播同行評議的學術研究被炒魷魚；機構負責人只是因為笨拙的錯誤而被解僱。無論每個具體事件的情況如何，結果是可以暢所欲言而不用擔心報復的空間正在逐漸收窄。因為害怕偏離共識或者在共識上不夠狂熱而丟掉飯碗，作家、藝術家、記者正變得更加小心翼翼，我們已經開始為此付出代價。
這種令人窒息的氛圍最終會危害我們這個時代最重要的事業。對辯論的限制——無論是來自高壓的政府還是來自不寬容的社會——必然會傷害到弱勢群體，並會削弱每個人的民主參與的能力。挫敗錯誤觀念的方式是揭露、辯論和說服，而不是嘗試讓其沉默或者希望讓其消失。我們拒絕在正義和自由之間二選其一，因為二者無法分離。作為作家，我們需要一種允許我們實驗、冒險甚至犯錯的文化空間。我們需要保存這種可能性，即保持善意的分歧而無需擔心造成職業的後果。如果我們自己不捍衛我們工作賴以存在的基石，我們也無法指望公眾或者國家替我們捍衛。
簽名人：
Elliot Ackerman
Saladin Ambar, Rutgers University
Martin Amis
Anne Applebaum
Marie Arana, author
Margaret Atwood
John Banville
Mia Bay, historian
Louis Begley, writer
Roger Berkowitz, Bard College
Paul Berman, writer
Sheri Berman, Barnard College
Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet
Neil Blair, agent
David W. Blight, Yale University
Jennifer Finney Boylan, author
David Bromwich
David Brooks, columnist
Ian Buruma, Bard College
Lea Carpenter
Noam Chomsky, MIT (emeritus)
Nicholas A. Christakis, Yale University
Roger Cohen, writer
Ambassador Frances D. Cook, ret.
Drucilla Cornell, Founder, uBuntu Project
Kamel Daoud
Meghan Daum, writer
Gerald Early, Washington University-St. Louis
Jeffrey Eugenides, writer
Dexter Filkins
Federico Finchelstein, The New School
Caitlin Flanagan
Richard T. Ford, Stanford Law School
Kmele Foster
David Frum, journalist
Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University
Atul Gawande, Harvard University
Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
Kim Ghattas
Malcolm Gladwell
Michelle Goldberg, columnist
Rebecca Goldstein, writer
Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
David Greenberg, Rutgers University
Linda Greenhouse
Rinne B. Groff, playwright
Sarah Haider, activist
Jonathan Haidt, NYU-Stern
Roya Hakakian, writer
Shadi Hamid, Brookings Institution
Jeet Heer, The Nation
Katie Herzog, podcast host
Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College
Adam Hochschild, author
Arlie Russell Hochschild, author
Eva Hoffman, writer
Coleman Hughes, writer/Manhattan Institute
Hussein Ibish, Arab Gulf States Institute
Michael Ignatieff
Zaid Jilani, journalist
Bill T. Jones, New York Live Arts
Wendy Kaminer, writer
Matthew Karp, Princeton University
Garry Kasparov, Renew Democracy Initiative
Daniel Kehlmann, writer
Randall Kennedy
Khaled Khalifa, writer
Parag Khanna, author
Laura Kipnis, Northwestern University
Frances Kissling, Center for Health, Ethics, Social Policy
Enrique Krauze, historian
Anthony Kronman, Yale University
Joy Ladin, Yeshiva University
Nicholas Lemann, Columbia University
Mark Lilla, Columbia University
Susie Linfield, New York University
Damon Linker, writer
Dahlia Lithwick, Slate
Steven Lukes, New York University
John R. MacArthur, publisher, writer
Susan Madrak, writer
Phoebe Maltz Bovy, writer
Greil Marcus
Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center
Kati Marton, author
Debra Maschek, scholar
Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago
John McWhorter, Columbia University
Uday Mehta, City University of New York
Andrew Moravcsik, Princeton University
Yascha Mounk, Persuasion
Samuel Moyn, Yale University
Meera Nanda, writer and teacher
Cary Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine
Mark Oppenheimer, Yale University
Dael Orlandersmith, writer/performer
George Packer
Nell Irvin Painter, Princeton University (emerita)
Greg Pardlo, Rutgers University – Camden
Orlando Patterson, Harvard University
Steven Pinker, Harvard University
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Katha Pollitt, writer
Claire Bond Potter, The New School
Taufiq Rahim, New America Foundation
Zia Haider Rahman, writer
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, University of Wisconsin
Jonathan Rauch, Brookings Institution/The Atlantic
Neil Roberts, political theorist
Melvin Rogers, Brown University
Kat Rosenfield, writer
Loretta J. Ross, Smith College
J.K. Rowling
Salman Rushdie, New York University
Karim Sadjadpour, Carnegie Endowment
Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University
Diana Senechal, teacher and writer
Jennifer Senior, columnist
Judith Shulevitz, writer
Jesse Singal, journalist
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Andrew Solomon, writer
Deborah Solomon, critic and biographer
Allison Stanger, Middlebury College
Paul Starr, American Prospect/Princeton University
Wendell Steavenson, writer
Gloria Steinem, writer and activist
Nadine Strossen, New York Law School
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., Harvard Law School
Kian Tajbakhsh, Columbia University
Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University
Cynthia Tucker, University of South Alabama
Adaner Usmani, Harvard University
Chloe Valdary
Lucía Martínez Valdivia, Reed College
Helen Vendler, Harvard University
Judy B. Walzer
Michael Walzer
Eric K. Washington, historian
Caroline Weber, historian
Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers
Bari Weiss
Sean Wilentz, Princeton University
Garry Wills
Thomas Chatterton Williams, writer
Robert F. Worth, journalist and author
Molly Worthen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Matthew Yglesias
Emily Yoffe, journalist
Cathy Young, journalist
Fareed Zakaria
