In the current political climate, clashes over free speech rights and wrongs haunt public debates about the state of democracy, freedom, and the future.
The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Peter Ives, a political theorist, recently published Rethinking Free Speech, (Fernwood Press), that will change the way people think about the politics of speech and its relationship to the future of freedom and democracy in the age of social media.
I worry that in all the rancor and complexity about free speech, many people now just want to tune it all out.
Dr. Peter Ives
Dr. Ives offers a new lens to view the essential and increasingly contentious debates around the politics of speech. He has carved a path through complex philosophical ideas and political terrain of these debates, into comprehensible and compelling concepts for all readers and political stripes.
He draws on political philosophy, and everyday examples, taking the reader on a guided journey through the minefields of the current speech wars.
Rethinking Free Speech provides a map for critically understanding these battles as they flare up in university classrooms, debates around the meaning of antisemitism, the “cancelling” of racist comedians and the proliferation of hate speech on social media.
Dr. Ives’ intrepid and careful insights on the combative politics of language, clears the path to understanding how freedom of speech, recognized as foundational to democratic society, is persistently misunderstood and distorted.
With aid of social media, prominent commentators have built massive platforms around claims that their right to free speech is being undermined. Dr. Ives joins the critics of free speech that sheds a light on these claims that act as a veil for misogyny, white-supremacy, colonialism, and transphobia.
“I worry that in all the rancor and complexity about free speech, many people now just want to tune it all out,” shared Dr. Ives. “There is an irony here because I think we all understand the desire and importance of a good, productive conversation. I hope this book contributes to achieving this.”
