This Is the Lecture That the Naval Academy Didn’t Want Me to Give
Ryan Holiday delivered three lectures at the Naval Academy—but not a fourth. (Courtesy of Ryan Holiday)
We have gotten to a place where even a basic defense of intellectual freedom is now considered ‘too political’ for a government institution.
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I was supposed to give a talk at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland on April 14. I found out about 20 minutes before I was due to go onstage that it wasn’t going to happen. The lecture was about wisdom and how to cultivate it. It was a staunch defense of reading widely, perhaps especially, books you don’t agree with. The Naval Academy’s leadership had learned I was going to challenge the terribly sad fact that this wonderful institution had banned 381 books from the academy’s Nimitz Library, on the orders of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
They asked me to delete this part of the speech. I declined. My lecture was canceled.
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