In Newspeak, freedom is slavery. In Trumpspeak, freedom of speech is censorship.
Brendan Carr, whom Trump wants to head the FCC, has declared his intent to “smash the censorship cartel” using the agency’s power. According to the Washington Times, “He is threatening the platforms with revocation of their federally granted immunity against content-based lawsuits.” He’s presumably referring to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, one of the few parts to survive legal challenges. It says that in general operators of websites that allow public posting of commentary can’t be held liable for what third parties post. Without it, website operators would have to keep a quick finger on the “Delete” button to keep potentially defamatory comments from showing up. They’d need to err on the side of caution. Many sites would probably find it easiest to eliminate the comments section.
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There has been discussion of whether science fiction/fantasy conventions in the US should be considered human rights risks along with countries like China and Uganda. Some people are already panicking. A post I came across on Bluesky said, “I’ve lost all my desire to attend Seattle Worldcon. Fully aware this is a first world sort of problem but wondering if other non Americans are felling the same?” Steve Davidson, the editor of Amazing Stories, has written: “For at least the next four years the United States will not be a suitable country for hosting Worldcon. It will not be a country that is generally reflective of Fannish values. It may very well become a country that is hostile to those values.” He recognizes that there’s no way to revoke the Seattle and Los Angeles Worldcons.
Giving in to worst-case assumptions this soon is a mistake, but it’s never too soon to consider the risks. What dangers might come to US cons in the next few years raise, and who would be at risk?
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As the election approaches, I’d like to offer an unpopular idea: There’s too much focus on the candidates. If you care about human freedom, it should be obvious that Trump and Harris are both inimical to it (thought Trump is far worse). However, they’re just symptoms. Whether we’re looking at sending the military into every neighborhood to expel people from the country or instituting price controls and handouts to create winners and losers, the underlying premise is the premise that a central authority should decide how things should be. This idea has gained in popularity in spite of all the evidence that it’s harmful. The Republicans have almost completely abandoned the free-market principles that once formed an inconsistent part of their platform. The Democrats have believed in a managed economy and growth in federal power and spending ever since Franklin Roosevelt, and they haven’t changed on fundamentals.
As the election approaches, writers spend many words on the candidates as people. News sites, no longer pretending to give news, jump on any little thing that makes their preferred candidates look good or their opponents look bad. Their goal is proxy power. People on social media do the same, often with even less regard for the facts and less of a reason. Their main line of argument is “I’m smart, anyone who disagrees with me is dumb, and if you’re smart like me you see that, right?”
If you write on current controversies and value human freedom, you can do something different. You can set a better standard. If enough authors and journalists do it, it can make a difference, pushing the national discourse in a better direction. It wouldn’t take much to make it less awful.
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A year ago today, Hamas conducted an orgy of brutality against innocent civilians. Such things have happened many times, but this case was unusual in attracting the support of a small but significant number of Americans. I don’t normally venture this deep into politics, aside from First Amendment issues relevant to writing, but I have to say something today.
I’m not talking about people who want peace or who object to Israel’s conduct in the war that followed. I’m talking about people who supported the massacre and want Israel wiped off the map. Also, we have to recognize that even groups with despicable goals have the right of free speech. They do not, however, have the right to physically interfere with other people’s legitimate activity.
Yesterday, as reported in the news, “Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators temporarily blocked traffic on Storrow Drive in Boston on Sunday during an emotional rally on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.” Given the timing, any protest should have said something against that slaughter. The report doesn’t mention anything of the kind.
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Freedom of speech has a cultural dimension as well as a legal one. Legally, it means that the government must not punish people for their expression, except when it violates the rights of others (e.g., clear threats). Cultural respect for free speech is also important. Where it exists, people have room to express their opinions, even when most people disapprove of them. If it goes away, legal protections for free speech are likely to follow.
Cultural freedom of speech doesn’t mean an obligation to grant a platform or to refrain from criticism. The best way to describe it is going after ideas rather than people when possible. Saying that an idea is horrible is one thing. Saying that the person who said it horrible is a stronger charge and can do more damage. This doesn’t mean we should never condemn people for what they say, but it should be reserved for the most serious cases.
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As fans energetically discuss the aftermath of the Chengdu Worldcon, some are thinking about the risks of future Worldcons in countries with a bad record on free speech and human rights. There are some issues with the UK, which is hosting this year’s convention, but it’s too late to change it. Let’s look ahead to the bid for Kampala in 2028.
There’s never been a Worldcon in Africa, and that helps to make the idea attractive. The bid website talks about Uganda’s literary history:
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My latest article for Liberty Fund’s Online Library of Liberty, “The Peasants’ War and Martin Luther,” is now online. Marxist claims have largely dominated historical discussions of the Peasants’ War, but it was a revolt in defense of property rights, not against them. Its Twelve Articles contain ideas that appeared in the United States’ Declaration of Independence.
“One down. Two to go. This forced resignation of the president of @Penn is the bare minimum of what is required.”
That’s the kind of language you might expect from the Minister of Truth in a socialist dictatorship. It’s from Elise Stefanik, a Congresswoman from New York. The offense for which Stefanik and many others are seeking to remove three university presidents is the failure to regard advocacy of genocide unconditionally as harassment.
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I’m the kind of person who always needs to have a project or two going. Things have been slow in that department lately, and FAWM is still about six weeks away. The two novels I wrote were enjoyable to do, but fiction isn’t my strongest point. The research I did for them has proven fruitful, though. I thought about writing a book on the Protestant Reformation and its effect on the emergence of personal freedom. I can’t claim to be a professional historian, though, and the readership would undoubtedly be small.
But I can write songs. The idea I’ve developed is a song cycle which combines music and history while connecting to my novels. Hans Lorenz is Thomas and Frieda’s son in The Magic Battery and Spells of War. He’s a small child and isn’t developed much as a character, but he has strong musical abilities. In this cycle, the adult Hans is the singer of songs which could get him into bad trouble for the ideas they expressed; but doing that runs in his family. (His father was on trial for his life, his mother’s book was burned, and his grandmother was killed in prison, accused of witchcraft.)
The first song, which I’ve put up on SoundCloud, is “Deva Prison.” It presents history which most listeners won’t know, so it’s followed by a short talk by “Hans” to his audience about the facts behind the song. This is a pattern which I plan to follow in other songs in the cycle.
A fact that might get a few people more interested: Dávid Ferenc, the subject of the song, was the founder of Unitarianism.
If I achieve my goal, this cycle will present some important history which isn’t familiar to most modern audiences in an entertaining way. Let me know what you think.