Hegemony Erodes Epistemic Rigor

When a coalition dominates cultural institutions, it faces little cross‑examination, so its arguments decay in logical consistency and evidential quality. Accountability research (Lerner & Tetlock) and Mill’s warning suggest opposition pressure is what keeps reasoning sharp. This helps explain why counter‑establishment debaters can appear stronger against students steeped in a hegemonic campus ideology. — It reframes speech and campus debates as incentive problems, implying pluralism and real opposition are needed to maintain argument quality and institutional legitimacy.