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Frank Buckley

5 min read

Frank Buckley is a professor at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law, a senior editor at The American Spectator, a columnist for the New York Post, and the author of Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life, among other books. He has appeared on The Bob Zadek Show at least twice, in 2019 and 2021 Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

On the show

10 appearances, 2014–2022.

Their books discussed on the show

Social media censorship and the Hawley proposal

In a 2019 episode, Bob Zadek and Buckley discussed growing calls for government regulation of social media censorship following high-profile “de-platforming” incidents. They critiqued Senator Josh Hawley’s proposed legislation as a “regulatory shakedown” and explored Buckley’s alternative proposal for a disclosure-based commission to provide transparency without granting the government enforcement power Who Will Censure the Censors? (2019).

Curiosity and its twelve rules

Buckley’s 2021 appearance centered on his book Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life. Zadek introduced him as a frequent guest and described the book as teaching about the troubling circumstances of the time Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Buckley argued that curiosity is important because behind any admired person or great advance in science, business or literature there was somebody curious. He said there had never been in America such an effort to silence dissenters, at least since the witch trials in Salem in the 1600s, and that a culture of received thoughts makes people incurious Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Zadek framed cancel culture as preventing individuals and institutions from sharing information so the public cannot decide whether an idea is bad. Buckley agreed, saying Aristotle held that philosophy begins in wonder, and that curiosity is something you want to avoid in 1984. He said America is far closer to Orwell’s dystopia than at any time since the creation of the country 250 years ago, and that if you are not curious, liberty will not matter to you Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

The epidemic of loneliness

Buckley called loneliness an epidemic, though not one in the DSM. He described appearing on a call-in program where callers wanted to talk not about his book but about the January 6th “insurrection,” and said that for some people only a narrow set of political issues matters. He said friendship depends on revealed confidences, which are dangerous to make now, and that this produces a friendless society where suicides are up and a majority of Americans describe themselves as unhappy Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Zadek described censorship, wokeism and cancel culture as a quarantine of ideas, and Buckley said the state of mind he opposes is a form of sociopathy. He noted that students are encouraged to report on their professors, and that what was innocuous ten years, ten months or ten days ago can quickly become toxic Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Deliberation and ideology

Zadek asked whether the Senate, called the world’s greatest deliberative body, ever shows a senator changing his mind through deliberation. Buckley offered civil rights and Senator Vandenberg’s turn from isolationism after Pearl Harbor, but said Vandenberg changed because of circumstances, not persuasion. He contrasted this with May 1940, when the Chamberlain government fell and Winston Churchill became Prime Minister after speeches in Parliament persuaded about 70 members of the majority Tory party not to support the government. He said real deliberation in Washington happens offstage Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Buckley attributed the hardening of opinion to partisanship and to the growth of ideologies, giving the example of the 1619 Project of the New York Times. He described an ideology as a mental shortcut, like a key supposed to unlock all doors, and as a mental trash folder for contradictory facts. He argued that curiosity is the foundation of a good part of morality, because morality concerns how other people fare, and that the deeply incurious person is also a deeply immoral person Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).

Across episodes

The 2019 episode addresses government regulation of social media censorship and Buckley’s disclosure-based commission; the 2021 episode addresses curiosity, cancel culture, loneliness, deliberation and ideology. The episodes show no development between the two treatments of censorship, and Buckley is the guest in both.

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