Freedom is positive, and so is freedom of speech: it makes no sense without the affirmation of truth as a virtue, and the creation of institutions to protect people seeking it. It is the truth seekers’ freedom, their capacity to take risks with their bodies, that reminds us what the protection is for. Freedom of speech requires free human speakers, as free as possible and as many as possible. Such people are sovereign, capable of judgment on their own; they are mobile, able to see and take risks; they are unpredictable, and so they can accept that facts challenge beliefs. They are facing
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