This is an opinion column by Rick Esenberg, the President and General Counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. In December, WILL and the National Review Institute will host Rich Lowry in Brookfield.
In an era where public discourse is often reduced to sound bites, obnoxious and oftentimes outright false posts on social media, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has sought to build more robust and honest dialogue.
Here’s the background. A friend of ours at the National Review, Rich Lowry, has faced scrutiny following allegations that he used a racial slur during a discussion on Haitian Migrants in Ohio and the story’s political ramifications in the 2024 election. He didn’t.
As John McWhorter, a respected linguist and cultural commentator (who happens to be black), explained, Lowry began to say one word, switched to another, and the resulting vocalization sounded like a slur. Lowry did not intend to denigrate anyone based on race.
And that lack of intent matters. Slurs are not like ancient maledictions in which the mere sound summons evil. What bothers us is the thought that those who use them seek to convey. If the speaker did not intend to convey such a thought, our reaction should reflect that lack of intent. That something “sounded like a slur” doesn’t give us license to act as if it was one.
So, if we are to live in a society that values free expression and civil discourse, we must be willing to consider this context and afford others—even others with whom we disagree—a presumption of good faith. It requires the strength and self-possession to ask what the accused speaker intended, rather than join in a paroxysm of thoughtless condemnation.
Many commentators on the left immediately understood that Lowry did not intend to call anyone the “N” word. While some misjudged Lowry, others came to have second thoughts. For example, NPR apologized for its initial mischaracterization of the event, highlighting the need for accuracy in reporting.
I may not be the biggest fan of NPR, but I applaud its willingness to treat others as persons whose views are to be fairly evaluated rather than foils whose statements are to be distorted for partisan gain.
In December, WILL and the National Review Institute will host Rich Lowry in Brookfield. We look forward to hearing from Rich on the aftermath of the challenge and engaging on challenging topics in a setting that prioritizes respectful discussion over outrage. Even more importantly, we are pleased to join NRI in reaffirming
our commitment to a culture where our interlocutors are treated as people whose ideas are to be heard and, where necessary countered, rather than foils whose views we distort to feed performative indignation.
WRN Editor’s note: Rich Lowry was scheduled to speak at an event sponsored by the Badger Institute, which disinvited him when the controversy erupted. Read our article on that angle here.
