Re: Cathy Young's piece, and the question of how to understand shouting down a speaker: I think this needs to be approached entirely as an issue of illiberalism rather than freedom of speech (or not), i.e., not unconstitutional but culturally incompatible with a healthy liberal democracy. Yes, the shouters-down are within their First Am…
Re: Cathy Young's piece, and the question of how to understand shouting down a speaker: I think this needs to be approached entirely as an issue of illiberalism rather than freedom of speech (or not), i.e., not unconstitutional but culturally incompatible with a healthy liberal democracy. Yes, the shouters-down are within their First Amendment rights. However, just because there's a constitutional right to do something doesn't mean it's right to do it. It all depends on what kind of society we want to live in.
My thought is that it is the free marketplace of ideas that everyone is always talking about in action. You say stupid or hateful stuff (and being stupid or hateful is often a subjective judgment) and people react to it.
Sometimes the reaction is stupid and hateful in return. People are within their constitutional rights to be stupid and hateful (within certain legal limits). This includes things like not buying your stuff, screaming at you, picketing you, refusing you the use of their forum to say things... and more.
Private individuals and corporations (because corps are people too) are not really constrained by the1st Amendment. That applies to government regulation of speech.
Understand that the marketplace of ideas isn't about finding the BEST idea or the RIGHT idea or the MORAL idea. It is about finding the popular idea or the idea with the most money and emotion behind it.
VERY few people engaged in this "market" have any clue about determining what the best or right idea is... so you end up with some REALLY bad winners. Witness: A lot of history.
Re: Cathy Young's piece, and the question of how to understand shouting down a speaker: I think this needs to be approached entirely as an issue of illiberalism rather than freedom of speech (or not), i.e., not unconstitutional but culturally incompatible with a healthy liberal democracy. Yes, the shouters-down are within their First Amendment rights. However, just because there's a constitutional right to do something doesn't mean it's right to do it. It all depends on what kind of society we want to live in.
My thought is that it is the free marketplace of ideas that everyone is always talking about in action. You say stupid or hateful stuff (and being stupid or hateful is often a subjective judgment) and people react to it.
Sometimes the reaction is stupid and hateful in return. People are within their constitutional rights to be stupid and hateful (within certain legal limits). This includes things like not buying your stuff, screaming at you, picketing you, refusing you the use of their forum to say things... and more.
Private individuals and corporations (because corps are people too) are not really constrained by the1st Amendment. That applies to government regulation of speech.
Understand that the marketplace of ideas isn't about finding the BEST idea or the RIGHT idea or the MORAL idea. It is about finding the popular idea or the idea with the most money and emotion behind it.
VERY few people engaged in this "market" have any clue about determining what the best or right idea is... so you end up with some REALLY bad winners. Witness: A lot of history.