"I really like Betty McLellan’s discussion of the difference between free speech as traditionally defined and defended and fair speech in which people can not only speak but have a chance of being heard. I agree with her, but I hadn’t previously thought through why the traditional definitions of free speech were inadequate or sorted out of debates about the issue among feminists. As she describes, free speech has been taken as an absolute, unquestionable demand for any nation that calls itself a democracy.
Traditional defenses of free speech have been based on the faulty assumption that all people’ are equal and have equal access to being heard. Such defenses also prioritize rights of individuals over those of society or even over well-established facts. Absolute freedom of speech gives most freedom to those who already have considerable power to speak and be heard."
mdbrady.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/free-speech-and-fair-speech-part-1-of-unspeakable-by-betty-mclellan/
Betty is coming from Australia to speak at the RadFEms Resist Conference on the weekend of the 12th of September.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/radfems-resist-tickets-16625033924