Carin Kuoni

Studies Into Darkness, edited by Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich, engages the topic of free speech from a variety of styles, from classic essays to drama and poetry.

This took a little for me to get into, I found some of the color choices bothersome to my eyes which made it that much more difficult to focus on what was being said and, very important in this volume, how it was being said. I did manage to acclimate my eyes and my brain to what was on offer and found it to be well worth the effort.

The voices aren't as monolithic as some seem to think, but I also noticed that the same person seemed to only discuss the essays, so I think a lot of the reception will be based on whether readers will leave their comfort zones and try to engage other forms of expression or just stick to the styles that suit them.

Like any collection, some definitely struck a deeper chord for me than others. I did like the cases as a running theme through a large part of the book, helping, for me, to connect the various styles of presentation and the personal elements with what has passed for legal or (in)justice decisions over time.

I would recommend this to those who might tire of the drier and often more academic discussions of free speech but don't want to lose that grounding of what is theoretical and how it plays out in practice. What may discourage some readers is also what makes this more effective for many, the effort necessary to fully engage with the book. One can't, or at least shouldn't, try to just read through this quickly. By expressing ideas in many forms it makes the reader slow down and become a more active reader, which is a good thing.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing.… (mehr)

Quite a surprise - a dark title, and an artist's work as one of the central pieces to start and finish the book.

It is a collection of reflections on the freedom or not freedom of speech from a multitude of perspectives. Events, manifestos, statements, pieces of art, held together by the central topic and its ambivalence, and the ambivalence of society and authority towards it. Far from 'total' freedom of speech, it is one of the central topics in contemporary discussion, but also limits are shown, limits that are set by courts, or laws, or living together.

The introduction was so heavily focused on reporting of workshops, that I feel lucky I continued anyway to read chapter by chapter to the end. It was most interesting to read about perspectives I had not heard, thought off before, learn about very, very different perspectives about limitations of language as it is prominent, and why focus on 'freedom of speech' is often a farce online, and can be deep exploration in events and books like these.

I very much liked the multitude of facets, the difference of perspectives, the short chapters. Intro is really focused on participants, academic gibberich, and while the design of the book is really great, the binding is not.

Definitely would recommend this book.

I received a free copy via librarything early reviewer program.… (mehr)

First things first: This book is definitely not a defense of the free speech grift popular with Nazis and other conservatives. This is particularly relevant considering that Elon Musk just bought Twitter and is using specious "free speech!" excuses to give genocidal fascists their Twitter accounts back, while also selectively not giving back or newly banning other accounts he personally finds annoying.

This book is concerned with a number of issues related to free speech, including the evolving conception of free speech over time, particularly the problem of how to rectify the problem of an American's right to speak their mind with the government's interest in suppressing treasonous speech, or how this conception has changed over time. Despite what you might hear from simpleminded idiots who spend too much time in their "absolutist" echo chambers, the idea of freedom of speech has in fact changed since the 1790s. In addition to essays, some arty illustrations and whatnot, this book includes a timeline of major American legal cases involving various aspects of the freedom of speech, and it's worth noting that one of the most important such cases in Revolutionary-Era America was the Alien and Sedition Acts, where the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and Bill of Rights thought it was ok to restrict speech under certain circumstances.

For anyone who isn't certain kinds of lawyer or activist, this book is going to be theoretical and/or academic. I'm neither of those professions, so it's resolutely theoretical/academic to me. One thing worth noting is a 1943 case where Justice Black said that freedom of speech was intended to support the underrepresented person in society. In light of how the most popular social media are basically Internet fiefdoms ruled by unaccountable billionaires and regular broadcast media is mostly owned by giant unaccountable corporations (Clear Channel for analog radio, Sinclair for local news, Comcast and various other legal monopolies for cable networks) this seems somewhat important, especially when Fox News and other fascist propaganda networks deliberately agitate their audiences against the LGBT community and spread violent white supremacist conspiracy theories and hate while giving the false impression of being objective journalists. As the book points out, albeit with different phrasing, if these people actually cared about free speech applying to everyone equally, they would not defend white supremacist terrorists needing their free speech while also screeching about banning Drag Queen Story Hour. In practice they aren't interested in free speech applying to everyone, they're interested in their freedom to broadcast exterminationist rhetoric and hate against various minorities, who they think should not have any public voice or venue to defend themselves.

The contributors to this book also thankfully give some space to distinguishing between liberal interpretations of the freedom of speech and the fact that different leftists have different ideas of the freedom of speech. The observation that liberals frequently end up defending Nazis and other fascists on the grounds that "everyone should be able to voice their ideas" and that this is in conflict with the leftists who say "if you're a genocidal Nazi you don't deserve the freedom to use your speech to meet and/or recruit other genocidal Nazis" is worth noting, especially in light of the explosion of murderous hate as acceptable rhetoric on the American right wing post-2016. It's also very important to note that despite the screeching fears of "cancel culture" leading to the banning of speech by left-wing extremists, this has never actually happened in the United States. Quite the opposite, as reactionary conservatism has violently cracked down on the freedom of speech by people seeking progress since the country was founded - the multiple Red Scares (1919-20, 1940s, McCarthyism), pogroms against Black communities from the 1870s to the 1920s, the genocide of Native people since the first white colonists landed here, violent anti-Semitism, the "lavender scare" of the 1950s, all the way up to 2020s attempts to erase LGBT communities while lying about the ongoing role racism plays in American society.

Some of this book delves into arcane theory and (for people in the white straight cis majority like me) relatively niche concerns, which I found harder to understand. It doesn't feel impossible to understand, however, and may simply warrant a second read-through at some point in the future.… (mehr)

Disclaimer: I won an ARC in a Librarything giveaway.
Unless you’ve been living in a hole, you know that Musk has taken over Twitter. Musk supposedly brought the platform to bring back freedom of speech, but, of course, immediately went after parody accounts. Which wouldn’t really matter because it is a private company, but like the essay “Sade Avec Spinoza” by Vanessa Place discusses if social media is where the talk happens isn’t any limits on speech censorship?
So this collection couldn’t be more tomorrow.
The collection raises questions about freedom of speech - not always for complete freedom of speech. It raises the question of whether or not we can have complete freedom of speech – don’t we gibe up some of our rights to that for some protections? Is curating your feed a form of censorship (but don’t we all censored by choosing what we consume?).
The collection isn’t just essay, but includes art, interviews, and places where speech and feminism, and speech and antiracism intersect. The inclusion of the various manifestos, such as the Wages for Housework - is also particularly interesting.
I will admit that the quasi positive mention of Edward Snowden considering his recent expression of support for Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine was a bit straining. But in general, the essays are extremely thought provoking. If you are interested in Freedom of Speech and its various intersections, this book is a great read.

… (mehr)