korrents

korrents · piece

The Power Theory of Free Speech

Yascha Mounk · 8 Oct 2025

Read the piece on writing.yaschamounk.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece ↓

Yascha Mounk did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. I have come to think of the tendency of both left and right to flip-flop on free speech depending on whether or not they feel that they have the upper hand in the nation's culture war as the power theory of free speech.
  2. But the principles of free speech nevertheless remain an indispensable basis for any free society.
  3. And it is precisely because there are many ways to chill speech that a robust notion of free speech must entail not only the knowledge that you won't be jailed for "offending" others but also the confidence that you won't lose your job or suffer social ostracism if you do so.

Keep reading