The Elizabeth Gilbert Mess

I’m not one to readily opine on cultural debates. I have my moments when I’ll share, and try to state where I land on various tussles over “cancel” culture or “woke” or what’s happening in the newsrooms or on campus. I believe, fundamentally, in the First Amendment, and strong free speech protections. I believe in a culture that safeguards free speech, one where the informal default is more speech, not less. In recent years, I’ve become quite rankled with the contention that since First Amendment rights are applied in a governmental sphere, private speech should enjoy no serious defense, that it’s fine if a corporation or an actor in academia engages in censorship. I find both the Left and Right have, in most cases, only a passing regard for the value of freely shared speech in a democratic society. Of late, conservatives have embraced the free speech mantle, but they will have no defense for the speech from leftists they don’t like. If a student on campus is against Israel and delivers a speech, a public university should be defunded, in their estimation. And the Left, of course, has long retreated from its ACLU roots, with the organization transmogrified into yet another alphabet advocacy group.