Is the free speech debate raging because intellectuals feel stripped of power? | John Ganz

In the face of Covid-19, mass unemployment and police brutality, writers and academics are seeking meaning onlineOver the past few weeks the literary and journalistic scene has exploded in discussion – or, if we are really being honest, diatribe – about free speech, open debate and the limits of discourse. This has been spurred on by the publication of an open letter in Harper’s magazine signed by notable writers and academics against what they describe as the spread of “intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty”.Unlike Émile Zola’s J’Accuse…!, the most famous open letter in history, this one targeted no particular travesty of justice, although a few were alluded to. Rather, its subject was an “atmosphere” or “climate” of censoriousness. Although it is not mentioned by name in the letter, the topic in question is that spectre that hangs over contemporary discourse: “cancel culture”. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/18/free-speech-internet-power-covid19 #social_media #internet #digital_media