In October and November 2015, Sam Harris frequently used the term in his exchanges with the media, saying the greatest danger is that the "regressive left" is willing to give up freedom of speech "out of fear of offending minorities", which will lead to censorship imposed by those minorities, citing American journalist Glenn Greenwald's comments on the Charlie Hebdo shooting as an example.
在2015年10月和11月，山姆·哈里斯在他与媒体的交流中频繁使用“退步左派”这个术语，他说最大的危险在于退步左派“出于对冒犯少数群体的恐惧”愿意放弃言论自由，这将导致少数群体对言论的审查，他引用了美国记者格伦·格林沃尔德（Glenn Greenwald）关于查理周刊总部枪击案的评论作为一个例子。