Liberal legal scholar Jonathan Turley has fired back at former President Barack Obama for calling for more regulation on what can be said on the Internet.
Obama made the calls during a speech at Stanford University yesterday.
The ex-POTUS is calling for more to be done to stop the spread of what the Left calls “disinformation.”
Turley slammed Obama’s comments, warning that it proves the Democrats are pushing for more censorship.
“Barack Obama insisted yesterday that he is ‘close to a First Amendment absolutist’ and then argued for censorship,” Turley said.
“Notably, he did not say he was close to a free speech absolutist (who also oppose private censorship).
“By the way, as someone who is routinely called a free speech absolutist, Obama is hardly viewed as a champion for free speech — as is evident by his advocacy for censorship.
“It is akin to claiming to be a vegetarian absolutist while calling for mandatory meat consumption.
“Obama supports free speech unless he considers the speech to be ‘disinformation’ and then he becomes an advocate for speech controls.
“If Democrats want to become the party of censorship, they should have the integrity to call it for what it is.
“So Obama is ‘an absolutist’ except for anything that he deems ‘lies, conspiracy theories, junk science, quackery, racist tracts and misogynist screeds’ or otherwise disinformation.
“Authoritarian countries never censor alleged ‘lies.’
“Only free speech absolutists do that.”
Barack Obama insisted yesterday that he is “close to a First Amendment absolutist” and then argued for censorship. Notably, he did not say he was close to a free speech absolutist (who also oppose private censorship).https://t.co/BJu4NOBQMD
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 21, 2022
Marc Andreessen, a tech pioneer known for inventing the web browser, agreed with Turley about Obama’s speech, saying:
“Everyone knows it’s all about free speech.
“You know it, I know it, they know it.
“They’re not fooling anyone, they’re not even fooling themselves.
“Always remember that the prime urge of every society is to expunge the truth-teller.
“Socrates had it coming.
“I’ve been running and participating in running Internet services at scale since [squints, checks draft of memoirs] 1992. Holy Lord, thirty years.
“In the early ’90s, such speech suppression demands came from one political side, now they come from the other.
“But honestly, they’re the same people.”
So Obama is “an absolutist” except for anything that he deems “lies, conspiracy theories, junk science, quackery, racist tracts and misogynist screeds” or otherwise disinformation. Authoritarian countries never censor alleged “lies.” Only free speech absolutists do that.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 21, 2022
By the way, as someone who is routinely called a free speech absolutist, Obama is hardly viewed as a champion for free speech — as is evident by his advocacy for censorship. It is akin to claiming to be a vegetarian absolutist while calling for mandatory meat consumption.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 21, 2022
