The Indispensable Right, Jonathan Turley, author and narrator
I am sure this is a great book, and I am also sure the experience of the audio book would have been far better if it was read by a professional reader. I love the author, I love the way he expresses ideas, and I agree with a lot of his philosophy, but I definitely do not agree with his decision to be the narrator of his own audiobook. I have restarted the audio, no less than 4 times, hoping to refocus my mind, but each time, the monotony of his tone of voice was so distracting that my thoughts would wander. He kept putting me to sleep.
So, after listening to a bit more than the same hour plus, each time, I felt compelled to give up. I will definitely try the print version, and perhaps then, I will write another review.
Suffice it to say, for the time that I was able to stay attentive, the book was filled with a great deal of information about the practice of free speech and the proponents of the different aspects of it. I did not previously know about how free speech was handled centuries ago. Nor did I know about the different ways in which the right to speak was perceived and also punished by those in power. Often draconian measures were used to punish the transgressors. They were pilloried, suffered amputations and whippings, etc.
Although today we have progressed from the use of draconian means of punishments for those who are believed to be abusing their right to free speech, their voices are still subject to being silenced in other ways. Contrary voices are censored, their work is not published or sold in stores, their opportunities to speak in institutions of higher education are canceled as are their voices. They are removed from social platforms, book review sites, space on news programs or spun negatively when they are aired. They are blackballed and cannot obtain gainful employment. Sometimes, they are imprisoned. Dissenting views are silenced by those in power. The courts, the judges, the schools, professors, teachers, lawyers, employers etc., either march to the beat of those in power or they do not march at all. Those who gain positions in those areas are therefore compelled to prevent others from voicing their dissenting opinions for fear of punishment or being ostracized, as well.
By indoctrinating students in schools, refusing to hire certain candidates for jobs, sentencing them to prison for expressing contrary opinions to the currently accepted ones, speech has essentially been controlled so that only the prevailing ideas of those in power are disseminated.
Hopefully, this book will provide a path forward so that everyone has the right to speak, as long as their speech does not endanger others. Unfortunately, that too, is subject to the ideas of those in power, for they decide what is dangerous, what is hate speech and what is acceptable speech. They decide who is in danger from speech and who is not. They control what is the prevailing thought, so who is in power is most important and so are the elections which put them there. Elections really do have consequences. An open-minded, educated, critical thinking public, not an indoctrinated public, is necessary.
To be continued….