The Dimensions of Free Speech
Steve Bannon was recently disinvited from the New Yorker Festival. What should we make of that?
The concept of free speech has emerged as a surprising ideological battle ground in 21st-century liberal democracies. Extremist left and right parties like Marxists and fascists have always stood outside the free speech framework, but now, emergent political tendencies within liberal democracy challenge it as well.
Left-identitarian and Antifa-identified activists reject full commitment to the free speech ideal and its protections. They do so, in the first instance, in deference to the vulnerability of marginalized populations; in the second, as a settled case of historical evil: punch a Nazi.
Right identitarians—white nationalists and nativists—seek to limit free speech as part of a broader attack on civil and human rights, via, for instance, anti-immigration and voter suppression strategies.
These extremes are obvious to most genuine supporters of free speech.
