"Conflating criticism with censorship fosters a system in which all positions deserve equal consideration, no bad ideas can ever be put to rest, and lies are just as valid as the truth ... crying “free speech” to end any discussion of cultural sensitivity are not unrelated. Casting the dissent of marginalized groups as a First Amendment violation is the kind of pseudo-intellectual argument that seems reasonable to some people; They believe that the more airtime we give to irrational bigots, the more we hear both sides, stay “fair and balanced” — the sooner they’ll be rejected by the public at large! It’s not hard to draw a straight line from this misappropriation of free speech to our current mass delusions over climate change or health care as a luxury. 'Free speech' rhetoric begot 'fake news,' which begot 'alternative facts.'"
At www.nytimes.com
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