In what George Washington University law professor and constitutional expert Jonathan Turley calls “the most dangerous movement in our history,” Americans more and more are starting to believe in radical censorship of speech.
At this point, polling shows that more than half say the First Amendment goes too far in protecting free speech and there’s even a movement afoot to change that constitutional protection so that people have the right to speak, but also have the right “to be shut up.”
In an online column he notes he addresses the “global anti-free speech movement” in his book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
“It is in my view the most dangerous movement in our history due to an unprecedented alliance of government, corporate, academic, and media forces. That fear was amplified this week with polling showing that years of attacking free speech as harmful has begun to change the views of citizens,” he explained.
It’s all the rage in academia, he said, so it now is “not surprising to see the new Knight Foundation-Ipsos study revealing a further a decline in students’ views concerning the state of free speech on college campuses. The study shows that 70 percent of students ‘believe that speech can be as damaging as physical violence.’ It also shows the impact of speech codes and regulations with two out of three students reporting that they ‘self-censor’ during classroom discussions.”
Nearly two out of three on campus say, “[t]he climate at my school or on my campus prevents some people from saying things they believe, because others might find it offensive.”
And worse, where it used to be 78% a few years ago, now only 54% of students say colleges should allow students to be exposed to speech even if its “offensive.”
And, he noted, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found 53% of Americans believe that the First Amendment goes too far in protecting rights.”
Forebodingly, 40% now “trust” the government to censor speech.
“We have created a generation of speech phobics who are willing to turn their backs on centuries of struggle against censorship and speech codes,” he noted.
Leaders of the movement include University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade who has called free speech the “Achilles Heel” of the nation, and Joe Biden, who has claimed corporations that don’t censor are “killing people.”
It is Mary Anne Franks, of George Washington University, who is pushing for a rewrite of the First Amendment, so that would demand speech conflicts “be resolved in accordance with the principle of equality and dignity of all persons.”
But he explained Antifa has been one of the “most dangerous” censorship groups around.
“Antifa continues to attack those with opposing views and anti-free speech allies continue to ‘deplatform’ speakers on campuses and public forums. ‘Your speech is violence’ is now a common mantra heard around the country.
Faculty continue to lead students in attacking pro-life and other demonstrators.”
In fact, he cited one Antifa activist whose ideology is: “You have the right to speak but you also have the right to be shut up.”
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