Kerby Anderson

Attacks on free speech are increasing so much so that even liberals are concerned about people who say that free speech is dangerous and needs to be controlled. Jonathan Turley is a law professor at George Washington University. He acknowledges that many may view him as a “free speech purist” but reminds us that his views used to be the mainstream view of free speech. He also explains that “public or private censorship does not produce better speech. It only produces more censorship and more controlled speech.” That used to be the liberal view concerning free speech, but no longer. He reminds us that “the Constitution was written not only for times like these – it was written during times like these.” At the start of the Republic, the various factions (Republicans and Federalists) weren’t just trying to “cancel” each other but were actually trying to destroy and even kill each other. And there were rampant conspiracy theories back in that day. In other words, the Constitution was written in a period similar to ours today. He describes some of the more extreme efforts. Last week I talked about members of Congress who were trying to pressure various cable outlets and social media platforms to drop Fox News and any conservative commentary. An article by two law professors called for what Jonathan Turley terms “Chinese-style censorship” by arguing that China’s control of its media is better than the freedom we grant to networks. He concludes by assuring us that he doesn’t believe that today’s activists will succeed in removing the most-watched cable news channel in 2020 from the airways.” That may be true, but they may succeed in knocking off other smaller programs, and that should concern us.