Podcast: Discussing Free Speech on "So to Speak"
Podcast: Discussing Free Speech on "So to Speak"
Discussing the Elon Musk acquisition with former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, Carleton College professor Amna Khaled, and host Nico Perrino of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
It’s been quiet on the site for a week or so, as I’ve been working on a research-heavy story, but I was able to take time out to join a podcast for a second time with a great group. “So to Speak,” the show hosted by Nico Perrino of FIRE, or the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, invited professor Amna Khaled of Carleton College, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, and myself to discuss Elon Musk’s possible acquisition of Twitter. Actually, for the second time, this group met to discuss the reaction of the WYNC show “On the Media” to the controversy, as the public radio staple of late has become a bizarre beacon for anti-speech arguments.
We listen to clips where free speech free speech is made out to be a hellish cross of 8Chan and an infamous “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” episode in which the bar allows customers to slice each other’s fingers off in an “anything goes” publicity stunt. You can also listen in on iTunes, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Audible.
".....I’ve been working on a research-heavy story...." Yeah baby, that's why I signed up.
I know by the overinflated and constantly flogged Elon Acquisition that the world of journalism seems to think the world turns on Twitter, but every time I see "Elon" and "Acquisition" in a sentence, I pour myself another drink and go looking for something that matters. Research-heavy is one of my favorite words. Twitland is the Bizarro World of research-heavy...
40:20 Great, funny point about how they chose 8chan as their example rather than the United States. Also, you spoke to how "thumb on the scale" and suppression are every bit the tinder-box they consider "free speech" to be.
An amazing example is the situation of the violent attacks on Asians. The media/woke practice free speech by (falsely) ascribing the violence to "white supremacy," often linking this to Trump's "hateful rhetoric." This is also thumb on the scale because the reality is that Blacks are the primary group attacking Asians. This is clearly shown in the 2018 Department of Justice Criminal Victimization report in Table 14, "Percent of violent incidents, by victim and offender race or ethnicity." (In the following years, to the surprise of no one paying attention, that table -- and the listing of Asians as a separate entry -- have been disappeared from the Criminal Victimization report.)
Clearly in this example the media/woke consider lies to be free speech, but the truth something to be censored. And, yeah, as a white person, I'm not super thrilled that I'm being blamed for Black people attacking Asians just because it suits the "white supremacy" campaign slogan of the Democrats/media.