In Witness, Whittaker Chambers explained his break with the Communist Party after he learned of the widespread violence and murder its ideologues were committing. As Chambers famously phrased it, he heard the screams.
I left mainstream academia because I heard the lies.
The core reason why I walked away from an established academic career to help build a new institution is that I felt the urge to censor myself. I remember thinking many times—and many of my colleagues will recognize this worry—“What will happen if I say or write what I think?” Whether it is about the right path to equality, the wrong path to racial justice, or Israel, or religion, will I hurt my career if I say what I think is true? I had often experienced the sick feeling in my stomach of knowing I was being false to my own beliefs. And I had talked to too many colleagues who felt the same disgust but didn’t see a path out of it.
Read Full Article »