Left, Right, and Free Speech

[J_William_Ryan]

1. "So the idea that the Trumpian right is civil libertarian is preposterous on its face."

True.

In fact, Kirk was an example of the dishonesty and willful ignorance of the right.

The doctrine of free speech concerns solely the relationship between the government and those governed, not between private citizens and private entities.

And only the government has the authority to censor, using the authority of the state – not private citizens.

For private citizens, therefore, to oppose and denounce rightwing hate speech is to neither ‘censor’ nor ‘violate’ free speech – the lie that Kirk and his ilk advanced was that ‘liberals’ violated free speech and sought to censor when denouncing the racism, bigotry, and misogyny of the right, which private citizens are at liberty to do in the context of private society.

Moreover, private entities, such as social media platforms, are at liberty to refuse to accommodate rightwing hate speech, where refusing to publish or disseminate rightwing hate speech is not to censor conservatives or violate conservatives’ right to free speech.