Letter signed by J.K. Rowling, Noam Chomsky warning of stifled free speech draws mixed reviews

More than 150 writers, journalists, academics and artists — including J.K. Rowling, Noam Chomsky and Margaret Atwood — signed an open letter published Tuesday arguing that stifled free speech is creating an “intolerant climate” within society.

While their pointed message acknowledges the national reckoning over racism and social injustice and celebrates “overdue demands for police reform,” it also argues that the protest movements have helped “weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity.”