24 Comments

I'm disappointed that the present sad state of the ACLU as an anti-free-speech organization was not discussed ...

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"this poses perhaps even more of a threat to a robust free speech culture than right-wing attempts to shut speech down" - any recent examples of "right wing"attempts to shut free speech down? At least in the past several years it appears to be primarily. a left wing effort, especially on college campuses and the general sense of cancel culture.

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Do you think Tara has any real basis for most of what she says. It is all rotting with biases.

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I would like to think otherwise. I continue to cancel sub stack subscriptions because of what I consider to be intellectual laziness on the part of the writers.

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We would all LIKE to think highly of other people, esp their performance in their chosen profession. Unfortunately, the truth about their biases and laziness is the truth.

Tara is pure comedy.

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There's a standing joke on Zero Hedge that nobody actually reads the articles, they just go straight to the comments, because that's where the real debate is happening. This place is starting to look like that with one exception: occasionally an author actually joins the debate on ZH. Never seen that here.

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I read most of the articles on both sites. It’s worth the time. Read a lot of comments too. I like yours btw.

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Thou protest too much.

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Actually was pretty boring conversation.

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Another excellent from Jeffrey Tucker at Brownstone https://brownstone.org/articles/the-culpability-of-the-new-york-times-then-and-now/

Also: The Smear by Sharyl Attkinsson ( 2017 ) is excellent.

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A while back I took one of those online surveys that are supposed to identify your political position. Turns out I'm a left of center libertarian....LOL! Who knew? I always though of myself as a right of center authoritarian:)

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Thank you for this very informative interview.

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FREE speech only works when all left/right / out in space have the same rights when you rate something you don't like or agree with as hate speech we all lose . ACLU they are now the problem , what happened ? You were on the inside tell us .

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Left vs. Right is a false dichotomy. If you examine people's beliefs on an individual basis, you'll find they're all over the map. This is because most people lack a solid foundation for their beliefs and simply agree with whatever feels right to them. Blue team vs. Red team. All the same cult-like behaviour. People feel a need to belong to a group. Nothing unusual about that, we are social animals, but it leaves us open to exploitation by other people who understand how that works and use it to their own advantage.

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Exactly. One sign of a lazy thinker is Tara's constant use of the terms "left", "right", "liberal" and "conservative". This is a sign no matter who is doing it.

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It never takes Tara long to expose her blind-spots and echo chambers. She likes to do it right up front. "I always assumed that free speech was a leftist value." No wonder journalism is such a mess. It is filled with people whose BIASES far far far outweigh their capacity to actually THINK.

Tara, do you ever think about the things you say?

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In fairness to Tara, like all of us she is imperfect. By acknowledging her previous flawed thinking, she shows her humility and I find that reassuring.

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Tara has never once said that she has changed her thinking. She always tries to weasel out of any change, looking for externalities or exceptions that explain why her fundamental view is contradicted by current evidence. Anyone who reads many of her words should realize she is not changing her FUNDAMENTAL thinking and none of these conversations will do that.

In this instance, without going back and re-reading, Tara weasels out by saying "PERHAPS" attacks on freedom of speech by the "left" is as dangerous as those by the "right". "PERHAPS". The conclusion is obvious. Tara, status quo. How she was programmed in her teens is how she'll be tomorrow and next month and so on.

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Well she did leave the CBC that is a step in the "right" direction people do not change overnight , it takes time . Give her some credit

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More to the point, does she even read the comments?

"You'll PAY to know what you really think." J.R. "Bob" Dobbs

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July 19, 2022
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that or she is playing both sides . If Tara does not read the comments her loss . Why bother , she should just shut it down

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A long time ago I was on a forum, maybe CompuServe, and the discussion went to free speech. There was a guy from BC, a lefty who was wondering about the value of letting cranks spout off. I posted some on the union rhetoric that I had heard. Easily characterized as hateful, divisive, and definitely subversive, challenging the rightfully of government structures, calling for their overthrow. That rhetoric was instrumental in the quest for improved working conditions and wages.

I ran into something he wrote later taking a firm stand on his right to say "Eat the rich!"

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Tara has never once said that she has changed her thinking. She always tries to weasel out of any change, looking for externalities or exceptions that explain why her fundamental view is contradicted by current evidence. Anyone who reads many of her words should realize she is not changing her FUNDAMENTAL thinking and none of these conversations will do that.

In this instance, without going back and re-reading, Tara weasels out by saying "PERHAPS" attacks on freedom of speech by the "left" is as dangerous as those by the "right". "PERHAPS". The conclusion is obvious. Tara, status quo. How she was programmed in her teens is how she'll be tomorrow and next month and so on.

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The Hentoff book is well worth the read.

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