From the left: Progressives Need Free Speech
“The left’s new enthusiasm for getting bad books taken off the shelves is a mistake” that forgets the left’s own interest in “as broad a discourse as possible,” warns Katha Pollitt at Dissent. When Republicans, who “are far keener than Democrats to ban from school libraries books they don’t like,” have the upper hand, free speech is what gives leftists the space to promote “unpopular positions in unfriendly places.” Removing a book, such as #MeToo-accused writer Blake Bailey’s Philip Roth biography, is really about not trusting people to weigh evidence.” And the question of “who decides what is permissible and what is beyond the pale” ultimately “comes down to who has more power.” Embracing free speech “means living with insults and stupidity and even, sometimes, evil and pain.” But it puts your enemy “in the same position,” which “may be as good as it gets.”