No second thoughts. The principles of free speech are totally sound. Distinctly, if the letter had been treated as a warning, we would have been less likely to face this absurd right wing assault. At least that’s my view. Our excesses on the left were political suicide I think. - ThreadSky

nachristakis.bsky.social • 6 days ago

No second thoughts. The principles of free speech are totally sound. Distinctly, if the letter had been treated as a warning, we would have been less likely to face this absurd right wing assault. At least that’s my view. Our excesses on the left were political suicide I think.

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volts.wtf•6 days ago

Murc's Law in the wild!

andyperfors.bsky.social•6 days ago

Well, thanks for answering. Obviously I disagree 😊 but you might be a bit surprised about why I disagree, so I will try to explain even though at this point it's water under the bridge and we're better off using our energy to fight much larger battles.

andyperfors.bsky.social•6 days ago

I actually totally agree about the principles of free speech, but the letter was blind to the larger context. Since meaning can't be divorced from its context, the meaning of the letter -- and its impact -- was not what you intended... but in ways that absolutely should have been foreseen.

andyperfors.bsky.social•6 days ago

The larger context is one in which the right had, for some time, been steadily using "principles of free speech" as reasons to enact and implement actual real censorship (not just people expressing disapproval). By buying into their framing you were *supporting* their goals.

andyperfors.bsky.social•6 days ago

I was angry about the letter precisely because I value free speech -- ACTUAL free speech, the ability of people (who are vulnerable and don't have access to platforms or power) to be heard. This letter gave people like Musk another bullet in the rhetorical gun to destroy this kind of real freedom.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

The thing about principles is they’re not subjective. I often think of Bayard Rustin’s great riposte to those saying truth is subjective and depends on speaker:

"If a bigot says to me, 'The sun is shining,' if the sun is shining, I say, 'Yes the sun is shining,' because I want to tell the truth."

andyperfors.bsky.social•6 days ago

The principle may not be subjective but the purpose to which it is put (and the ways it can be distorted) very much depends on who is wielding it and in what context. If we're in the middle of a huge flood and trying to rescue loads of people who are in denial about the rising waters and ...

jonathancorbin.bsky.social•6 days ago

It's hard to believe you're this naive. Your obsession with college students fed the hysteria. Now they're not only banning books, but entire concepts. You have always been part of the problem and your inability to see that is a testament to motivated cognition.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

I am obsessed with free speech in universities, yes, for both students and faculty, because I also care about honesty in our commitments. If we’d kept our house in order, perhaps we would not be such targets right now, alas, to disingenuous right wingers.

jonathancorbin.bsky.social•6 days ago

Right wing authoritarians always target education and you know that. In America, they've been targeting education for decades -- particularly the evangelical right.

You just unwittingly provided them with some momentary cover and fun new vocabulary words that they could use on NPR.

irahyman.bsky.social•6 days ago

For most of us, y’all were always focused on the wrong threats to free speech. Like you enjoyed punching down at students protesting. But never complained about people with actual power actually shutting down speech.

Now would be a fine time to correct that. To go after the people with power.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

And thankfully, perhaps (?) unlike you, I have credibility to denounce right wing attacks on free expression because I’ve been principled. Have you ever denounced left wing constraints on free expression? If not, you aren’t actually defending it. :-)

jonathancorbin.bsky.social•6 days ago

As we know, the right has always given such weight to credibility. I'm sure Trump will turn it all around if you just give him a call.

Your commitment to balance over scope is your weakness, and the right wing "free speech" grifters exploited it. (It's also what kills your credibility on the left.)

irahyman.bsky.social•6 days ago

I wasn’t considering left vs right but down vs up.

And you know, I read that Harper’s thing. Commented on it then.

I don’t comment much on free speech. I do write and talk about disinformation. That is unbalanced based on political orientation.

But attacks on free speech depend on power.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

When MLK invoked free speech, was he using a weapon that protects the powerful or the weak? The majority has the ballot and the gun and the numbers to enforce its desires. Free speech protections are especially helpful for minority groups. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zgVrlx68v-0 This is well understood.

irahyman.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yes. So again, why were the Harper’s writers so focused on students who don’t have power? Admittedly I’m not on Twitter these days. But I don’t recall seeing any of y’all complaining about people with power. You know, university admin, or political figures.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

Your lack of knowledge about my extensive and long-duration and public complaints about people with power (eg red state governors, etc) clamping down on free speech does not entitle you to lie about me. Do better.

amymarie3456.bsky.social•6 days ago

Algorithms in full force. More likely to get ads, info to get you angry (stay on longer) or misinformation than any accurate portrayal of users.

nachristakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

You know nothing about me and are simply casting aspersions. If you review my writings and twitter feed, you will see I’ve been warning about right wing assaults on free speech for over ten years.

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