Comedian/podcaster Adam Carolla and conservative talk show host Dennis Prager say the next battleground in the fight for free speech on college campuses is Phoenix, where their documentary “No Safe Spaces” debuts Friday.
Mr. Prager and Mr. Carolla will be on hand at the Harkins Theatres Scottsdale 101 for the premiere and select postscreenings Q&As with director Justin Folk.
“I’m not very political … so I hope the film brings us together against our common enemy — those who want to shut people up,” Mr. Carolla said.
In Mr. Carolla and Mr. Prager’s documentary, which they say chronicles the erosion of First Amendment principles at institutions of higher learning, the broadcasters are joined on screen by conservative comedian Tim Allen, liberal CNN commentator Van Jones, libertarian talk show host Dave Rubin and controversial psychology professor Jordan B. Peterson, among others — all sharing how strictures on speech at colleges seep into the culture at large.
The film also examines and criticizes China’s history of free speech suppression, a topical analysis given the discord over the NBA’s apology to Beijing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
Like many other independent features, “No Safe Spaces” is opening small and slowly expanding next month to other cities, including Highlands Ranch, Colorado; San Diego; and Tampa, Florida.
The documentary features the unabashedly conservative Mr. Prager and Mr. Carolla, who eschews political labels but embraces some libertarian positions such as support for same-sex marriage.
Select scenes show campus speakers being forced off stages or drowned out by protesters unwilling to let them be heard. That typically means right-leaning voices such as The Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro and Mr. Peterson.
Mr. Prager, who hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, said “No Safe Spaces” takes aim at the halls of academia, where “snowflake” students require so-called safe spaces, where their sensibilities will not be offended, their ideas will not be challenged and their beliefs will not be examined.
“We have virtually every school in America, from elementary schools to graduate schools, and virtually all the major media arrayed against us. The left in America, as everywhere else since Lenin, suppresses speech,” Mr. Prager said. “And liberals, who always fought for free speech, do nothing because they have bought the lie that their enemies are to their right, not to their left.”
The documentary makers visited a number of colleges for the movie, which gave Mr. Prager an insight into the mindset of modern students. Their positions don’t necessarily reflect the image conjured by the media and social platforms such as Twitter. Many students, he said, craved “something moral, rational and uplifting.”
“That’s why so many students come to my speeches and to those given by the few other conservatives who speak on campuses,” Mr. Prager said.
Still, Mr. Prager isn’t optimistic that free speech is ready for a nationwide comeback. That will require both sides of the political aisle to join together for the common good, he said. That’s increasingly uncommon of late, but it also connects to precedent.
“Unfortunately, throughout history, the decent rarely fight. At the very least, therefore, people who cherish freedom and who cherish America should at least help those who are fighting,” he said.
Mr. Carolla offers a more optimistic take, thanks in large part to comedy.
In recent weeks, top-tier stand-up comics such as Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr have taken up the “No Safe Spaces” fight, courtesy of their respective Netflix specials.
Mr. Chappelle playfully mocked his audience, saying their attempts to regulate his jokes made him curtail his stand-up career. Mr. Burr, in turn, shredded those eager to “cancel” people for telling the “wrong” jokes.
Mr. Carolla said comedians like Mr. Burr and Mr. Chappelle can be part of a societal correction.
“We’ve reached a tipping point, and maybe comedians can lead the way back to sanity,” he said.
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