i often talk about this clip from a 19 86 in which frank zappa, the rocker, was defending rock lyrics. And now you see the conservatives, like on fox news, defending free speech. I do wonder if they, you know, to what extent they actually believed that,. Or am i just missing something? N conservatives, or still censorious, but just in different areas.
Hailed as the “first freedom,” free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and it is subject to erosion in times of upheaval. Today, in democracies and authoritarian states around the world, it is on the retreat.
In this episode, based on the book Free Speech, Michael Shermer and Jacob Mchangama discuss the riveting legal, political, and cultural history of the principle, how much we have gained from it, and how much we stand to lose without it. Mchangama reveals how the free exchange of ideas underlies all intellectual achievement and has enabled the advancement of both freedom and equality worldwide. Yet the desire to restrict speech, too, is a constant.