Frank H. Buckley (also styled F.H. 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 books including The Once and Future King, Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life, and works on social media regulation Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He appeared repeatedly on The Bob Zadek Show, including episodes on June 20, 2019, and May 31, 2021 Who Will Censure the Censors? (2019) Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).
Censorship and social media regulation
In the June 20, 2019 episode, Bob Zadek and Buckley discussed growing calls for government regulation of social media censorship following high-profile “de-platforming” incidents. According to the episode description, 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). The episode also took up Section 230, anti-trust law, the FTC, and the First Amendment, with a caller identified as Charlie joining the discussion Who Will Censure the Censors? (2019).
The conversation distinguished between censorship by government and content moderation by private platforms. Zadek, in the 2021 episode, drew that line himself: social media companies’ actions are “not censorship because it’s not the government,” though they “sort of” feel the same Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). No proposal from the 2019 episode is elaborated in the 2021 excerpt.
Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life
Buckley’s 2021 appearance centered on his book Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life. Zadek introduced the interview by describing a constellation of what he found troubling in America—wokeism, “the increased sensitivity to fear and risk,” censorship, polarization, and racism—and said he could not initially find a unifying thread until reading Buckley’s book Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). Zadek characterized the book as teaching that curiosity, defined as risk-taking and welcoming the unknown, explains those developments.
Buckley’s own framing was that curiosity is important because “there was somebody curious behind” great advances in science, business, and literature, and that it is particularly an issue now because he sees an unprecedented effort to silence dissenters—comparing it to the Salem witch trials of the 1600s Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He argued that a culture of received thoughts makes people incurious and “hemmed in” on themselves, unwilling to open up to others because confidence can lead to cancellation.
Asked by Zadek whether cancel culture is anti-curiosity, Buckley agreed and invoked Aristotle’s claim that philosophy begins in wonder, adding that curiosity is something one wants to avoid in 1984 and that America is “far closer” to Orwell’s dystopia than at any time “since the creation of the country 250 years ago” Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He tied curiosity to liberty: if one is not curious, “what’s the point of liberty,” because the incurious can be told what to do without complaint. Zadek offered his own analogy—cancel culture as a “quarantine of ideas”—which Buckley did not himself advance.
On method, Zadek said he finds opinions boring but their reasoning fascinating, and urged that the subtext of Buckley’s book is asking “why.” Buckley described the book as taking “examples of people who made great discoveries, who struck out to something novel,” and said there is no single way to become curious Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021).
Loneliness and friendship
Buckley used the phrase “epidemic of loneliness” to describe an aspect of American life, saying it is not in the DSM but belongs there Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He illustrated incuriosity with a call-in program where callers wanted to discuss the January 6th “insurrection” rather than his book, after which, he said, people tweeted, “Why is this person allowed to be on television?” He argued that narrowing public conversation to one political topic produces real loneliness, for those excluded and for those who already hold the correct thoughts.
Buckley described friendship as depending on “revealed confidences”—confessing something about yourself that could be turned against you—and said that is dangerous now, as is telling a joke Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He cited rising suicides and described a friendless society in which a majority of Americans reportedly describe themselves as unhappy, calling it “America 2021.”
Ideology, morality, and deliberation
Buckley described ideology as a form of mental shortcut that lets a person avoid conflicting evidence, citing the New York Times’s 1619 Project—which he said would have it that “we are irredeemably a racist society”—as an example Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He linked incuriosity to morality, arguing that because morality concerns how other people fare, one must be curious about consequences; therefore, he said, “the deeply incurious person is also a deeply immoral person.”
On whether the U.S. Senate is a deliberative body, Zadek said he could not recall an example of a senator changing his or her mind as a result of deliberation. Buckley offered civil rights and Senator Vandenberg’s abandonment of isolationism after Pearl Harbor, but noted Vandenberg changed because of circumstances, not persuasion Curiosity & American Capitalism (2021). He contrasted this with a “classic moment in 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. Buckley said real deliberation in Washington happens offstage and is not visible.
Across episodes
The 2019 episode treats government regulation of social media censorship and Buckley’s disclosure-based commission proposal; the 2021 episode treats curiosity, cancel culture, and loneliness, with only Zadek’s brief distinction between private moderation and government censorship touching the earlier topic. The excerpts show no development of the 2019 proposal in the later episode.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state Buckley’s date or place of birth, his educational history, or the details of his academic appointments beyond George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law. They do not describe the contents of Senator Hawley’s proposed legislation or the specific terms of Buckley’s disclosure-based commission. They also do not report any case holdings, the constitutional amendment at issue in any litigation, or the founding dates of the institutions Buckley discusses.
Episodes
3 appearances, 2014–2022.
- Has America Become an “Elective Monarchy”? (2014) — The evolution of the American presidency into a monarchy. Author and Law Professor
- [[episodes/f_h__buckley_on__the_republic_of_virtue|F.H. Buckley on The Republic of Virtue]] (2017) — The Republic of Virtue and American Corruption. Author
- Trumpism After Trump (2022) — Progressive Conservatism and the Future of the GOP. Professor at George Mason University