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Story by NPR on free speech and gaslighting

Hey, all.

NPR aired this interview about the relationship between free speech claims and attitude agreement that might be of interest. I found arguments about free speech used to validate racist statements particularly salient. The social scientist interviewed noted that the outcome of the speech (which relates to fighting words and even incitement) should be considered when free speech is applied.

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  1. AnonymousSeptember 12, 2017 at 12:35 PM

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 17, 2017 at 11:53 PM

    I think this piece is valuable and informative in a number of ways, but I think the most important takeaway from it involves Crandall's study regarding the correlation between high levels of racial prejudice and first amendment defenses. It seems reasonable to assume that people who hold racist beliefs will be more inclined to obfuscate them by hiding behind the first amendment, but I think it's imperative to prove this empirically. Doing so helps shed more light on this strategy and exposes it for what it is, and it informs people about what they may be going up against as white nationalism begins to play an increasingly bigger role in our country's political climate.

    However, I think it's also important that the social scientist interviewed (Vedantam) qualified this research by making it clear there are many people and organizations that defend racist speech as a first amendment right who don't hold these same views themselves. In my opinion, the ACLU is a model example for this - their rhetoric on white nationalists and neo-Nazis has been severe and they have castigated them at every opportunity they've had, but they will defend their right to free speech so long as these people don't threaten violence. Their condemnations of this rhetoric are noticeably stronger than those (or lack thereof) presented by the participants in the Crandall study, and this can be a key indicator of their underlying beliefs.

    Original study:

    Lynch, Brendan M. “Research Shows Prejudice, Not Principle, Often Underpins 'Free-Speech Defense' of Racist Language.” The University of Kansas, 19 June 2017, news.ku.edu/2017/05/01/research-shows-prejudice-not-principle-often-underpins-free-speech-defe nse-racist.

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