The Case Against Free Speech
The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A hard-hitting expose that shines a light on the powerful conservative forces that have waged a multi-decade battle to hijack the meaning of free speech--and how we can reclaim it.
There's a critical debate taking place over one of our most treasured rights: free speech. We argue about whether it's at risk, whether college students fear it, whether neo-Nazis deserve it, and whether the government is adequately upholding it.
But as P. E. Moskowitz provocatively shows in The Case Against Free Speech, the term has been defined and redefined to suit those in power, and in recent years, it has been captured by the Right to push their agenda. What's more, our investment in the First Amendment obscures an uncomfortable truth: free speech is impossible in an unequal society where a few corporations and the ultra-wealthy bankroll political movements, millions of voters are disenfranchised, and our government routinely silences critics of racism and capitalism.
Weaving together history and reporting from Charlottesville, Skokie, Standing Rock, and the college campuses where student protests made national headlines, Moskowitz argues that these flash points reveal more about the state of our democracy than they do about who is allowed to say what.
Our current definition of free speech replicates power while dissuading dissent, but a new ideal is emerging. In this forcefully argued, necessary corrective, Moskowitz makes the case for speech as a tool--for exposing the truth, demanding equality, and fighting for all our civil liberties.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this incisive treatise, journalist Moskowitz (How to Kill a City) argues that the concept of free speech has been distorted as a cover for maintaining existing systems of power. The author examines the 2017 Charlottesville far-right "free speech rally" that escalated into a neo-Nazi parade culminating in the murder of a progressive activist. Moskowitz then analyzes recent incidents on college campuses that have inflamed the right, including the cancellation of a 2017 speaking engagement by conservative author Charles Murray after protests at Middlebury College and demonstrations at Reed College calling for a more inclusive curriculum. The term free speech, Moskowitz claims, has been co-opted by conservative activists as a means to spread their ideology to college campuses. Moskowitz recounts a long history of conservatives censoring the left while claiming their own speech rights are being violated, noting examples of jailed socialist dissidents and union members during WWII, as well as present-day campaigns of harassment orchestrated by conservative organizations against professors and students critical of Israel or right-wing causes. Moskowitz asserts that the true free speech "crisis" is that only the wealthiest (and whitest) American voices have real influence and that "massively overhauling our government" is the only way to change that. The analysis here is keen, complex, and well-organized. It probably won't convince right-wing readers, but others will appreciate it.