The arduous climb up Free Speech Mountain
The climb up Free Speech Mountain is more arduous than it seems.
Case in point: I am entranced by the sweet guilelessness of the TTC staff who commissioned a $1.9-million interactive artwork for the new Pioneer Village station only to realize they couldn’t plug the thing in because subway riders couldn’t be trusted with words. LightSpell would have allowed riders to type up to eight characters on touch-screens with the result being instantly displayed on light elements throughout the station.
It’s odd because the TTC already knew riders wouldn’t be able to handle it. They didn’t even install public washrooms in five of the six new stations, taking it for granted that riders are filthy people who can’t be left alone with sinks and toilets.
What with the prohibitive cost of installation, maintenance and nonstop cleaning, the assumption is that riders deserve neither physical nor intellectual outlets. As the Star’s Ben Spurr reported, the TTC had the bright idea of asking the German studio to retroactively install a filter on potentially offensive words.
But the studio, founded by artists Jan and Tim Edler, would have no truck with that. Jan Edler describes LightSpell, not at all self-importantly, as a “democratic installation” about “the freedom of the individual versus the interest of the larger group,” which I suppose means other riders would race to overtype all racist, sexist, or libellous remarks. As one naturally would, with a rough day ahead and a train to catch.
Modern German history makes a mockery of the idea that good individuals will happily step up to overwrite the expressed will of the masses. And since the subway extension was built partly to placate suburban voters — rather than relieve the desperate crush downtown — stations like Pioneer Village will be fairly empty.
Racist and obscene messages will remain on display while small boys shriek and furious parents alert @TTChelps and @TPSChrisBoddy.
But perhaps I take too negative a view. “Luv nice” and “mehappy” might well be the messages the travelling public wish to announce to fellow riders. Competitive tagging will not break out, and typing gangs will not roam the station at night.
Jan Edler, to his credit, did make a small concession, offering a keypad in the collector’s booth so really nasty stuff could be censored. Little did he know that TTC collector booths are being phased out in favour of Presto.
Speaking of bad ideas, the ejected collectors — never the most sociable of people — will soon be prowling the stations as “multi-functional, highly skilled customer service agents,” as the TTC puts it. They’ll do inspections (of passenger fashion choices? We are radiant in our black parkas), offer travel advice and do a little light cleaning. Who knows, perhaps they’ll be selling egg salad sandwiches and little sachets of aspirin.
I maunder. The problem is free speech, which is all to the good until it isn’t.
On Friday I read InTouch Weekly’s interview with porn actor Stormy Daniels on her affair with Donald Trump. Daniels is wonderful. She talks the way women talk to each other, candidly, artlessly and with delight. This is free speech strutting its stuff.
Trump begged her for praise, said he hoped all sharks would die, and thought his power and wealth were hair-based. Samson-like, he cannot allow it to be messed with. Daniels said she “can describe his junk perfectly.” The sex was “generic,” she said, “what you would expect someone his age to do.”
But what is that? Trump’s era was the ’80s. I’m now thinking it involved Jon Bon Jovi and a jar of sourdough starter.
Daniels’ interview is free speech, unmoderated, uncensored. It works. So why does other free speech not work?
Comment sections are disaster zones, which was why the Toronto Star got rid of them. CBC.ca’s Opinion section decided to go heavily populist and downmarket — not sure that was a great idea — but its attached comments continue to make Canadians sound like Trumpish: racists resenting women, immigration, youth, education, good looks, and social cohesion.
Whither free speech? Social media lets me block unwanted words and quarrelling people from my feed as the Edler subway installation does not.
But those foul words are still out there, wild and free. Free speech soars. It could be the prettiest bluebird or it could be a vulture ripping at flesh. Either way, it cannot be found at the hallowed Pioneer Village station. Riders twiddle their thumbs and jiggle their legs up and down.
Stormy Daniels’ interview about Trump is free speech, unmoderated, uncensored. It works. So why does other free speech not work?