Is the free speech conversation too simplistic? 

Peter Ives thinks so. He is the author of “Rethinking Free Speech,” a new book that seeks to provide a more nuanced analysis of the free speech debate within various domains, from government to campus to social media.

Ives is a professor of political science at the University of Winnipeg. He researches and writes on the politics of “global English," bridging the disciplines of language policy, political theory, and the influential ideas of Antonio Gramsci.

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Read the transcript.

Timestamps: 

00:00 Intro

02:25 The Harper’s Letter

05:18 Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan

08:15 Free speech culture

09:53 John Stuart Mill

12:53 Alexander Meiklejohn

17:05 Ives’s critique of Jacob Mchangama’s “History of Free Speech” book

17:53 Ives’s definition of free speech

19:38 First Amendment vs. Canadian Charter of Rights

21:25 Hate speech

25:22 Canadian Charter and Canadian universities

34:19 White supremacy and hate speech

40:14 Speech-action distinction

46:04 Free speech absolutism

48:49 Marketplace of ideas

01:05:40 Solutions for better public discourse

01:13:02 Outro 

Show notes:

• The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

• “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” Harper’s Magazine (2020)

• “On Liberty” John Stuart Mill (1859)

• “Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media” Jacob Mchangama (2022)

• Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

• Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021)

• Canadian Criminal Code (1985)

• Bill C-63 - An Act to enact the Online Harms Act (2024)

• McKinney v. University of Guelph (1990)

• “When is speech violence?” The New York Times (2017)

• Section 230 (Communications Decency Act of 1996)