Free Speech: The Government and Us

Now & Then

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Society & Culture, History, News Commentary

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2022

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How has the federal government limited and protected free speech rights over the course of American history? How have citizens responded when Washington has limited their speech rights? And what can Elon Musk’s commentary on online free speech tell us about the difficult lines between free speech, disinformation, and political power? In this first installment of a three-episode series on free speech, censorship, and so-called cancel culture, Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman explore the Alien & Sedition Acts, the Palmer Raids and the post-WWI rise of the ACLU, and the 1980s debate over burning the American flag. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical analysis of current events, sign up for the free weekly CAFE Brief newsletter, featuring Time Machine, a weekly article that dives into an historical event inspired by each episode of Now & Then: cafe.com/brief For references & supplemental materials, head to: cafe.com/now-and-then/free-speech-the-government-and-us Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:09.1	From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is now and then.
1:16.8	I'm Heather Cox Richardson, and I'm Joanne Freeman. Today we are kicking off a three-part series
1:23.0	on free speech and censorship. In this first episode today, we're going to be really talking about
1:30.1	free speech in the context of the government and individual rights of people to free speech.
1:36.8	Now, obviously, I'm guessing that a lot of people listening to this may realize that one of the
1:41.2	reasons why this came to the fore is something we wanted to talk about has to do with all of the
1:47.1	uproar going on about Elon Musk purchasing Twitter, which hasn't gone through yet. May or may not
1:52.2	happen, but even the possibility of that happening and the fact that he has had a lot to say about
1:56.8	it on Twitter itself, arguing that he's a big proponent of free speech has started a discussion
2:03.6	and actually needs to start a discussion about precisely what free speech is. Because it feels to
	...

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