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New York Times columnist says founders could never had foreseen free speech 'so twisted to malevolent intent as it is now'

We’re reminded of a number of posts we did early on in the Trump administration, where academics and even journalists were rethinking the whole First Amendment, and suddenly it wasn’t so easy to be a “free speech absolutist” anymore, what with alt-right crazies like Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter being invited to speak on college campuses.

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Here’s the Washington Post in 2017:

Here’s the New York Times in 2019:

And here’s the New York Times in 2021:

Timothy Egan writes that just as the founders could never have envisioned the AR-15 while writing the Second Amendment, they also “could not have foreseen speech so twisted to malevolent intent as it is now.” “Toxic misinformation, like AR-15-style weapons in the hands of men bent on murder,” Egan writes, “is just something we’re supposed to live with in a free society.” Well, yeah.

He proposes three solutions: media literacy classes for high schoolers, lawsuits, and legislation:

Republicans may resist most of the above. Lies help them stay in power, and a misinformed public is good for their legislative agenda. They’re currently pushing a wave of voter suppression laws to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.

I still believe the truth may set us free. But it has little chance of surviving amid the babble of orchestrated mendacity.

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Egan obviously doesn’t see the irony in saying the government should regulate “toxic misinformation” while accusing Republicans of “pushing a wave of voter suppression laws” in the nation’s largest newspaper.

Right? But it’s a kick they’ve been on since 2017 — right around the time they were pushing the Steele dossier and Russian collusion at every opportunity.

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Yeah, they quietly corrected that one a month later.

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Speaking of kids and lawsuits, how about that Nick Sandmann story?


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