Is The Biggest Threat To Free Speech, Free Speech?
You did read that headline correctly in case you thought I had gone insane. People have gone insane but not me, at least not yet. The New York Times Magazine actually published an opinion/editorial piece by a Feminist author named Emily Bazelon who actually believes with others that the biggest threat to free speech is free speech itself.
She actually wrote:
“It’s an article of faith in the United States that more speech is better and that the government should regulate it as little as possible. But increasingly, scholars of constitutional law, as well as social scientists, are beginning to question the way we have come to think about the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech”
I love how they throw around terms like “increasingly scholars of constitutional law” but do not give us the names, titles and positions of these “scholars”.
She then wrote:
“They think our formulations are simplistic — and especially inadequate for our era. Censorship of external critics by the government remains a serious threat under authoritarian regimes. But in the United States and other democracies, there is a different kind of threat, which may be doing more damage to the discourse about politics, news and science. It encompasses the mass distortion of truth and overwhelming waves of speech from extremists that smear and distract.”
Interestingly they lie to the citizens of the United States for 4 years about Russia, Russia, Russia and everything in between then tell us there is a “mass distortion of truth”. See how that works, the sad part is there are many people who follow their political ideology who actually believe this insanity.
Then they attempt to point us to Europe and how they suppress free speech and it works well for the citizens, I believe they even pinky swear it. Ms. Bazelon wrote:
“These scholars argue something that may seem unsettling to Americans: that perhaps our way of thinking about free speech is not the best way. At the very least, we should understand that it isn’t the only way. Other democracies, in Europe and elsewhere, have taken a different approach. Despite more regulations on speech, these countries remain democratic; in fact, they have created better conditions for their citizenry to sort what’s true from what’s not and to make informed decisions about what they want their societies to be. Here in the United States, meanwhile, we’re drowning in lies.”
Emily, how about we keep our free speech and you move to one of those beautiful utopias in Europe and try to write something that the government restricts you from writing or saying.
Please let us all know how it works out for you.
What would happen here in Michigan if these people get their way on deciding what speech they give permission to say or publish?
Who do you believe will fight for your free speech, Biden/Democrats or President Trump/Republicans?