he-man free speech defenders policing my speech | Fredrik deBoer

he-man free speech defenders policing my speech | Fredrik deBoer: Hard to believe the irony. A bunch of people rallying to the banner of free speech shared my post out of the conviction that it helped to defend the principle of free exchange. Some of them take time as they do so to mutter darkly about the potential consequences for my expression. And they do so in a way that acts as if I’m not capable of using my adult self-control to know who and what I’m targeting in a political debate. “People will think you’ll be that harsh in your teaching!” Like I can’t sort out a teenager who I have the express duty to teach and help grow from an established, successful, adult political writer whose job it is to argue about politics. You might say that these people are just criticizing me, not trying to police my language. And you might say the exact same thing about critics of Jon Chait’s.