Authors Noah Berlatsky
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Trump is the federal government. the 1st amendment was specifically supposed to prevent government interference with the press.
demanding that media publish the presidents words with no editorial interference is exactly what the founders were worried about when they created 1A.
free speech absolutists demand (checks notes) that the NYT allow Trump to write all its headlines.
the first amendment was not meant to allow the president to seize control of all media. it seems weird that you have to explain this to free speech defenders.
this is what happens though when you fetishize the speech act and completely lose track of what freedom of speech was supposed to do in the first place.
the president is literally the person the 1A is supposed to *protect media from.* It's supposed to allow media to criticize him and have an editorial policy independent of the government!
demanding that media publish the presidents words with no editorial interference is exactly what the founders were worried about when they created 1A.
It\u2019s a little surreal to see the traditional anti-censorship discourse newly applied to the most powerful man in the world right after he incited a mob that attacked a rival branch of government to overturn a free and fair election.
— Matt Pearce \U0001f985 (@mattdpearce) January 9, 2021
free speech absolutists demand (checks notes) that the NYT allow Trump to write all its headlines.
the first amendment was not meant to allow the president to seize control of all media. it seems weird that you have to explain this to free speech defenders.
this is what happens though when you fetishize the speech act and completely lose track of what freedom of speech was supposed to do in the first place.
the president is literally the person the 1A is supposed to *protect media from.* It's supposed to allow media to criticize him and have an editorial policy independent of the government!
politicians always do the politically convenient thing pretty much...1
people in general act out of self interest and in line with their community expectations. Republicans are horrible because they're collectively horrible, and their political incentives are all to be horrible. 2
individuals are accountable for their evil, obviously. but Republican incentives and communities actively encourage people to embrace their absolute cruelest and worst impulses, sometimes even over actual self preservation. 3
all of which is to say—the goal of our politics right now is to change those incentives, as much as we can.
the best way to do that is by defeating republicans over and over again until they have to stop being so horrible to win votes.4
but—Cheney and other republicans seeing their incentives shifting is good, and we should encourage that if we can. 5
republicans are doing the right thing when its most politically convenient for them. a thing they were not willing to do when evidence of corruption and criminality was obvious, when thousands were dying and being harmed. their vote is welcomed but they get no praise.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 12, 2021
people in general act out of self interest and in line with their community expectations. Republicans are horrible because they're collectively horrible, and their political incentives are all to be horrible. 2
individuals are accountable for their evil, obviously. but Republican incentives and communities actively encourage people to embrace their absolute cruelest and worst impulses, sometimes even over actual self preservation. 3
all of which is to say—the goal of our politics right now is to change those incentives, as much as we can.
the best way to do that is by defeating republicans over and over again until they have to stop being so horrible to win votes.4
but—Cheney and other republicans seeing their incentives shifting is good, and we should encourage that if we can. 5