Free Speech
Ten Principles for a Connected World
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Never in human history was there such a chance for freedom of expression. If we have Internet access, any one of us can publish almost anything we like and potentially reach an audience of millions. Never was there a time when the evils of unlimited speech flowed so easily across frontiers: violent intimidation, gross violations of privacy, tidal waves of abuse. A pastor burns a Koran in Florida and UN officials die in Afghanistan.
Drawing on a lifetime of writing about dictatorships and dissidents, Timothy Garton Ash argues that in this connected world that he calls cosmopolis, the way to combine freedom and diversity is to have more but also better free speech. Across all cultural divides we must strive to agree on how we disagree. He draws on a thirteen-language global online project—freespeechdebate.com—conducted out of Oxford University and devoted to doing just that. With vivid examples, from his personal experience of China's Orwellian censorship apparatus to the controversy around Charlie Hebdo to a very English court case involving food writer Nigella Lawson, he proposes a framework for civilized conflict in a world where we are all becoming neighbors.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian, political commentator, and all-around keen observer Ash (Facts Are Subversive) has written a master class in political and historical analysis, assessing the current state of free speech throughout the world. The author proposes 10 principles through which to foster and grow this right in a "framework of civilized and peaceful conflict, suited to and sustainable in this world of neighbors." Almost farcically thorough, the book doesn't even pose the question "Why should speech be free?" until it has thoroughly laid the historical groundwork. Ash's case studies of issues like censorship in China are so up-to-date that one almost misses that Ash is equally comfortable delving into the 19th century philosophy of John Stuart Mill. It's the analysis of the Internet throughout, however, that feels most vital. The author's ninth principle is exemplary: "We defend the Internet and other systems of communication against illegitimate encroachments by both public and private powers," which touches on one of the key debates of our time; and here Ash characteristically gives himself the room to dive deep and explore all his lines of inquiry. Yes, the book is intimidatingly dense. Yes, you need to put in some effort to keep up. And yes, it is without a doubt worthy of your efforts.
