Speech

Timothy Garton Ash explains why animal rights protestors should shut up, why David Irving should get out of jail and why we all need to buy Legos. Ok, not really, but kind of. It's about the new threats to free speech and inquiry. He argues that groups are now deciding that anything that offends them in their group should be banned. This is an across the board problem especially as every group in the world seems infected by identity politics.

A good book that looks at the attacks on free speech and why you should care is Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other. Don't believe me? Just look how up in arms the left gets about peace protesters rights while trying to quash those of abortion protesters. And vice versa. A similar book is Diane Ravitch's Language Police, which calls both right and left on to the carpet.