The ACLU once defended neo-Nazis eager marching through a Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Ill.
They even made a movie about it.
Today? The once-vital group cares more about “racial justice” and “reproductive rights” than free speech.
Enter FIRE.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression goes to battle every day for the First Amendment, a principle under attack primarily from the modern Left.
Nico Perrino, the group’s executive vice president, shares those fights on “So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast.” The show invites key players in the free speech wars to weigh in on timely topics. Consider a recent episode exploring political rhetoric in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life.
Perrino opened up to The Hollywood in Toto Podcast about the current state of free speech, a possible decline in Cancel Culture attacks and more.
Need a reason for hope? Perrino points to recent Supreme Court decisions that backed the First Amendment in profound ways.
“The court rightly rejects the idea that lawmakers have more authority over speech online than they do offline,” said FIRE chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere. “That’s a big win for free speech and a free internet.”
Some free speech advocates have disagreed with the Court’s rulings, but Perrino said the good dramatically outweighed the bad.
What’s more alarming? How young Americans view the First Amendment. If you’ve seen college protests over the past half-dozen years you won’t be surprised by FIRE’s findings.
The group surveyed 50,000 college students and came away with shocking results.
Thanks for the shoutout, @billmaher.
FIRE and @CollegeInsights‘s survey of 55K+ students nationwide shows that college campuses are growing more and more inhospitable to free speech.
Read the College Free Speech Rankings here
https://t.co/uOcXzjgufe pic.twitter.com/cwKh2zkYUa
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) October 21, 2023
“We’re seeing support for violence in response to speech that students don’t like and support of shouting down speaker… on college campuses,” Perrino told The Hollywood in Toto Podcast. “You worry about what happens when young people start getting to the bench, getting to the Supreme Court.”
Is it any wonder that campus protests bleed so swiftly into chaos?
“Words are how we solve disputes in our society,” Perrino said. “And if words can be violence, then you’re justified in meeting words with violence.”
Perrino noted how some pro-Palestinian voices are suddenly embracing free speech in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks that slaughtered more than one thousand Jews. Protest matters, but he wonders if these activists will defend the free speech rights of their ideological foes.
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As for free speech in comedy, Perrino notes some welcome news.
“It does seem that Cancel Culture is somewhat waning companies are growing a backbone and are willing to stand up to bullies who want them to take content down or deplatform folks,” he said.
One critical moment?
Netflix refused to censor or sever its ties to comedian Dave Chappelle over jokes perceived as transphobic. The outcry over the comic’s 2021 special, “The Closer,” nearly capsized Chappelle’s career. Team Netflix eventually stood tall and told employees that if they didn’t agree with the streaming platform’s content they could look for work elsewhere.
Perrino called it a “watershed moment.”
To hear more from the interview, including the one free speech arena we’re not paying enough attention to, watch the full Hollywood in Toto Podcast episode.
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