Freedom of speech was the first political issue I ever felt strongly about. As articulated here on HD nigh on 20 years ago, this essentially meant freedom to goon; today, it means freedom to borrow Taylor Lorenz‘s YouTube column title.
Taylor and guest James Griffiths dig into the history of Chinese censorship of the internet and how it mirrors current crackdowns on free speech and free access to information in the US, UK, Australia, and Europe. It’s a thorough overview of the nuances of the “Great Firewall”, a useful warning in a shifting soft power environment where recent material advances in China are looking increasingly attractive by comparison to the deteriorating infrastructure and services access in the US.
Ultimately I agree with Taylor that the tradeoff between free speech — and crucially, freedom to organize and oppose the political status quo — isn’t worth the quality of life improvements China has had in the past few decades; but that’s getting to be a harder claim to make. It’s a lot easier when you feel like you’ve got both.
