In a 1958 essay on Voltaire, the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: “No opinion should be held with enthusiasm. No one believes with enthusiasm that 7 x 8 = 56, because it can be shown that this is the case. Enthusiasm is only necessary when it comes to holding an opinion that is doubtful or clearly wrong.”
How passionate were USP Law students when they tried to prevent Andre Lageste from speaking during an event at the São Paulo Educational Foundation.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrators shouted and described the head of the NGO Stand With Us Brazil, which supports the existence of the State of Israel, as racist and genocidal. The college director, Celso Campilungo, had to repeatedly ask the students to at least let the speaker speak – Lageste and the NGO he heads work to combat anti-Semitism and support peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians.
This emotionally authoritarian attitude that silences differences has become increasingly common in the past decade in universities – the place of free and rational debate – and not just in Brazil.
This phenomenon is associated with information bubbles: environments generated by social networks where users are mainly exposed to opinions they agree with.
The result is emotional polarization. Divergent ideas are viewed not only as wrong but as a threat, and aggressive demonstrations against opponents are rewarded with admiration and visibility. The interlocutor’s identities (such as gender, race) or a particular line of theory automatically become moral markers of good and evil.
Young people arrive at universities digitally socialized in bubbles, accustomed to canceling those they disagree with, and gaining legitimacy to silence dissent.
The result is a fervor that censors students and deprives them of the practice of reasoning and evidence-based rhetoric, crucial tools not only in academic debate but also in professional life.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue is not a matter of reparation, but screaming is not an excuse.
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