Government determination of which assertions are false and should therefore be punished is always perilous. When institutions—scholars, the government as speaker, the media, perhaps opposing election campaigns—are available to deal with such matters, there is a way to avoid the peril while still rebutting the lies. It’s imperfect, but it’s better than the alternative of government coercion; in such a situation, “the fitting remedy for” lies, as well as for “evil counsels,” is rebuttal.
Category: Free Speech
Will the Supreme Court Let Sylvia Gonzalez Sue the Political Enemies Who Engineered Her Arrest?
“Gonzalez was so hurt by the experience and so embarrassed by the media coverage of her arrest,” the petition says, that “she gave up her council seat and swore off organizing petitions or criticizing her government.”
Mr. Jones and the Soviet Lie
Socialism not only hollows out economies, but also makes truth the enemy of the people. And when silence overwhelms a nation, the few who are brave enough to speak can shape history.
How FDR Emasculated the Black Press in World War II
Instead of indulging in politically risky sedition prosecutions of the black press, the government relied on indirect methods of behind-the-scenes manipulation and intimidation.
This country probably has as many of its citizens in concentration camps as has Germany… if the Government can do this to American citizens of Japanese ancestry, then it can do this to American citizens of ANY ancestry….Their fight is our fight.
George S. Schuyler, editor and columnist, Pittsburgh Courier
https://reason.com/2023/12/27/how-fdr-emasculated-the-black-press-in-world-war-ii/
If We Live by Lies, We Will Demand Deceitful Politicians
If we have turned our backs on reality, no one and no event is coming to save us. We can temporarily renounce our freedom by our own lies, but as Solzhenitsyn warned, “if we shrink away” from renouncing our “daily participation in deceit,” we should “cease complaining that someone does not let us draw breath—we do it to ourselves!”
Fifth Circuit Affirms Just Hours After Oral Argument: Criminal Libel Arrest for Criticizing Police Officer …
…Louisiana law had never been revised to comply with the First Amendment…
‘No Reasonable Officer’ Would Have Arrested a Guy for a COVID-19 Joke, the 5th Circuit Says
The appeals court ruled that a Facebook post alluding to World War Z was clearly protected by the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge David C. Joseph dismissed his claims with prejudice, concluding that his joke was not covered by the First Amendment, that the arrest was based on probable cause, and that Iles was protected by qualified immunity. …[T]he U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that Joseph was wrong on all three counts.
Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl
“I’ve warned my publishers that if they later on so much as change a single comma in one of my books, they will never see another word from me. Never! Ever!” [Dahl] said. With his typically evocative language, he added: “When I am gone, if that happens, then I’ll wish mighty Thor knocks very hard on their heads with his Mjolnir. Or I will send along the ‘enormous crocodile’ to gobble them up.”
Government Keeps Meddling With Private Company Decisions
In the Twitter Files, every conversation with a government official contains the same warning: You can do it happily, or we’ll make you.
https://reason.com/2023/02/02/private-companies-public-pressure/
How the CDC Became the Speech Police
Secret internal Facebook emails reveal the feds’ campaign to pressure social media companies into banning COVID “misinformation.”
The platforms may have thought they had little choice but to please the CDC, given the tremendous pressure to stamp out misinformation. This pressure came from no less an authority than President Joe Biden himself, who famously accused social media companies of “killing people” in a July 2021 speech.
https://reason.com/2023/01/19/how-the-cdc-became-the-speech-police/