Recently a friend, a leftie, a greenie, asked my if I was a “free speech absolutist”. I should have seen the trap. Because, these days, for the left, free speech absolutism has become code for deciding that you’re a horrid conservative. How they got there is by deciding that there was some speech which is “hate speech” and then expanding the definition of “hate” such that it includes anything one says that they don’t agree with. Hence, large chunks of what are said on the not-far-left are out of bounds. And if you say you’re a “free speech absolutist”, then, of course, and by definition, you’re hateful and a conservative bigot.
What I
should have said is something along the lines of “the left were free speech absolutists until five minutes ago. Both left and right agreed in this. I still hold to that classically liberal ideal, even if the left has abandoned it.”. Or something like that.
David Sacks is good on this issue; and many others. With Freddie Sayers, who’s a good questioner.
