'Does anyone believe in free speech anymore?'

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather at the Civic Center in San Francisco, Calif.

"It is better to hear those you violently disagree with than to ban or silence them"

(Image credit: Ray Chavez / MediaNews Group / The Mercury News via Getty Images)

published 10 November 2023

'The path we are on will further drive us apart'

Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post

Free speech appears to be a casualty of the Israel-Hamas war, says Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post. Conservatives have tried to "shame students" and university administrators for expressing support for Palestinians following Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack. The "basic argument for free speech" is "that it is better to hear those you violently disagree with than to ban or silence them." The alternative is driving discourse into the "gutters of political life where it festers."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.