Much else though isn't really addressing what I am trying to get across. Though I get the points you are making.
I'm not saying that the left, and more specifically the younger generation of the left, is absent their own free speech concerns, clearly there are some notable cleavages there, and you speak to some of them. My point has only been that by all evidence I have found, they are not currently the sort of existential threat that is often catastrophized by the speakers mentioned in the video in the other thread. That comparatively, the left-leaning youth and the left writ large seems to be much smaller in both depth and breadth toward restricting free speech than what you currently see on the right and from older generations. And the left unquestionably in America has far less control of power levers to advance their free speech restrictions.
Okay. Right, first I will clarify a few things. As I stated I am from the UK, so the perspective I am coming at it from is Left-wing politics in the West more generally, rather than exclusively the US. The US to a degree is shielded from some of the issues I am talking about because of the First Amendment. However, one thing I have noticed is that even in the US there are people who agree with the concept of hate speech to some degree. Those people a more oftenly people who identify as Left-wing. I've heard for instance things like, "hate speech is tantamount to inciting violence". This equating words with violence is a dangerous game. The argument often made against equating words with violence is that it justifies using violence against words. What I don't hear as much though is that, at least to me, it seems like an attempt to subvert and undermine the very notion of free speech. There are many people strongly in support of free speech who would stop at inciting violence. That is the line for a lot of people. That's what I think is going on there. If hate speech is inciting violence, or if words are flat out violence, then it is not free speech.
The point I am making is in Europe, particulrly in the UK, the politics is similar. It's the same stuff being spouted by the Left: identity politics, white privilege, intersectionality, etc. The difference is there aren't any First Amendment protections. And so someone can potentially be sent to jail for making a Joke. And as I mentioned, the Left are silent. Many on the Left agree with it. Owen Jones, a leftist journalist in the UK, in a interview with Jonathan Pie basically flaat out said calling someone "A fucking queer" is not free speech. Many on the Left have that sentiment. You have feminists for instance pressuring the government to clamp down on abusive tweets aimed at women online, etc. There is a real illiberal streak with modern left-wing politics today. What makes it so insidious is that it is done in the name of social justice. Why would you be against hate speech? And that is how the radical Left is getting a footing. It is not like a university for example would create policies that are blatantly racist. Imagine some far-right group campaigning for a 'white-only' space on campus. It's not going to happen. In the name of social justice, on the other hand, well why wouldn't a university want to make it a more 'inclusive' place? The problem is, these are trojan horse words. Inclusion for instance means the exclusion of certain points of view. It might not be an ovetly racist policy, but it is a discriminatory policy in a different way.
I do think it is only a minority of the Left that are the real problem. However, they also happen to be the most vocal and organised. I think it is around 8% of women in the UK that identify as feminist. Feminism is actually a bourgeois minority movement, yet it has enormous influence comparative to its size. The reason it has so is 1. its history and 2. The cause is good. In terms of free speech however, modern day feminism is one of the major culprits for attacks against free speech. They are always trying to ban and censor things.
And you can say, well, is it the biggest issue in the wider scheme of things? Here's another perspective based on the current situations in Europe. Throughout Europe there is a very real concern about the level of immigration over recent years, particularly Muslim immigration. You have questions about security. You have questions about identity and what this will mean for Europe in the coming years. They're hard questions to answer. It is not Right that is making it difficult to talk about these issues (obviously) it is the Left. You see the more the Left is silent about Islam, the more they are silent about the effects on mass immigration, all they are doing is showing the wider public that they are incapable of dealing with the real issues. The more they dismiss people's concerns about Islam and immigration as racism, the more they will push the public away. The far-right is quite happy to talk about these issues. I think the biggest problem with the Left is its inability to connect with ordinary working-class people. Its abandonment of working class people in fact. There has been move from class politics to identity politics. My fear is what they are really doing is pushing more people to the right. As Sam Harris has said, identity politics is extremely toxic when it comes to these sorts of discussions.
In terms of the US, some people believe that political correctness from the Left is part of the reason for Trump being elected. It's possible it had something to do with it.
In a way, I don't think it matters whether it is the Right or the Left that is the bigger concern. You have to be critical of it whatever side it comes from. If you feel the Left's approach to social Justice is wrong and counter-productive, then by all means express those sentiments. Ultimately there is eiher merit to those critiques or there is not. Trying to second guess people's motives is kind of pointless in that regard.
