Cass Sunstein: Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat r...

I strongly believe that the Second Amendment creates an individual right to possess and use guns for purposes of both hunting and self-defense.

Cass Sunstein

hunting gun believe

I think it's a very firm part of human nature that if you surround yourself with like-minded people, you'll end up thinking more extreme versions of what you thought before.

Cass Sunstein

human-nature people thinking

Because those who hold conspiracy theories typically suffer from a crippled epistemology, in accordance with which it is rational to hold such theories, the best response consists in cognitive infiltration of extremist groups. Various policy dilemmas, such as the question whether it is better for government to rebut conspiracy theories or to ignore them, are explored in this light.

Cass Sunstein

extremist-groups government light

It's deeply human to do both the worst things and the best things because of your fear of loss.

Cass Sunstein

best-things worst loss

Rumors are nearly as old as human history, but with the rise of the Internet, they have become ubiquitous. In fact we are now awash in them. False rumors are especially troublesome; they impose real damage on individuals and institutions, and they often resist correction. They can threaten careers, policies, public officials, and sometimes even democracy itself.

Cass Sunstein

democracy careers real

I am proud to say that the Federalist Society was founded in part at the University of Chicago, and one of its best characteristics has been an attack on liberal shibboleths by looking at real consequences and specific problems and by asking what law actually does.

Cass Sunstein

chicago real law

A well-functioning democracy has a culture of free speech, not simply legal protection of free speech. It encourages independence of mind. It imparts a willingness to challenge prevailing opinion through both words and deeds. Equally important, it encourages a certain set of attitudes in listeners, one that gives a respectful hearing to those who do not embrace the conventional wisdom. In a culture of free speech, the attitude of listeners is no less important than that of speakers.

Cass Sunstein

democracies-have attitude giving

I think President Barack Obama has been an extraordinarily successful president, and that this period will record that with a bunch of exclamation points. But obviously not everybody thinks that.

Cass Sunstein

president successful thinking

As a matter of history, the Fourteenth Amendment was not understood to ban segregation on the basis of race.

Cass Sunstein

corny race matter

Groups become more extreme and entrenched in their beliefs and polarized from others when members only exchange information that reinforces their views and filter out all else or never learn of alternatives. Thus they narrow their options, and magnify each other's prejudices and misconceptions. This trend leads to blind spots in decision making and to extreme behavior, even terrorism.

Cass Sunstein

blind-spots decision views

My role in the government was not to think about narratives and consistency with narratives, but think of the human consequences of rules.

Cass Sunstein

consistency government thinking

There is no liberty without dependency. That is why we should celebrate tax day.

Cass Sunstein

celebrate liberty should

Donald Trump and Senator Cruz have occasional Manichean tendencies.

Cass Sunstein

occasional tendencies trump

I'll tell you an explanation that I find commonly overrated and speculative in the extreme: the idea that things that succeed in popular culture do that because they hit the temper of the times.

Cass Sunstein

succeed culture ideas

The hero of the beloved Star Wars trilogy is Luke. The principle dynamic is the complicated relationship between Luke and his father. Not coincidentally, George Lucas' last name sounds a lot like Luke. That's the one he identified with. George Lucas had a tumultuous relationship with his own father, and people who know him say that you can't understand the backstory of the movies without knowing that his dad was occasionally difficult but also very loving. They had a big break between them. In those movies, he's very focused on sons and fathers.

Cass Sunstein

dad war father

So, you could often say things are terrible and that accounts for what happened, or things are really bright, and that accounts for what happened. Often, the real explanation for what happened is much more subtle and interesting and involves maybe small shocks or what a couple people did on a Wednesday morning that changed the arc of history.

Cass Sunstein

couple real morning

I dealt with people with diverse political views. If you find people who are your political opponents, and talk to them for an hour, chances are you're going to like them, and they're not full of hate.

Cass Sunstein

hate views people

Those subject to capital punishment are real human beings, with their own backgrounds and narratives. By contrast, those whose lives are or might be saved by virtue of capital punishment are mere 'statistical people.' They are both nameless and faceless, and their deaths are far less likely to be considered in moral deliberations.

Cass Sunstein

punishment real people

Even though Star Wars is easily read as feminist for its time - and even for now, with Princess Leia's role - people wouldn't make a movie like that in 2016, where the guys are mostly the tough ones, and the women aren't in positions of authority.

Cass Sunstein

princess war people

A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government.

Cass Sunstein

communication government self

Government agents (and their allies) might enter chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine percolating conspiracy theories by raising doubts about their factual premises, causal logic or implications for political action.