I really wonder what happened. I'm old enough to remember how freedom of speech was used to defend saying things the majority of society did not support (mostly left leaning topics, but also things like rap music lyrics).<p>Was that really supportive of "freedom of speech"? Or was that just used as a justification because they thought they were correct, but would have suppressed "wrong" speech they didn't believe in either?<p>The current times strike me how the support for free speech has withered in its former bastions.
I think at this point we need to stop talking about free speech and start talking about "free speech that is not clearly false and does not harrass or attempt to incite violence."<p>We've never had unfettered right to free speech in America - as everyone knows, you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. The idea that you should be able to freely spread harmful lies (masks don't work, Covid is a hoax, etc.) is what's the problem.<p>The right takes the phrase "free speech" and purposely misuses it (I mean the smart ones do, since they understand that all speech is not free, free speech comes from the government and not corporations, etc. - the dumb ones just take cues from the misleading use of the phrase by the smart ones). When they can't spread lies or cause harm or say whatever they want on Facebook/Twitter/etc., they cry free speech, even though they know the speech they're referring to isn't Constitutionally protected.<p>It's the same thing that they do with Black Lives Matter/all lives matter. They willfully misinterpret BLM to mean "Black lives matter and other lives do not" where it clearly means "We treat other lives like they matter, and we should also recognize that Black lives matter and treat them the same way."<p>It's just tough when a huge part of the country has no compunctions against dishonesty, voter suppression, etc. if it helps them get or maintain power.