a naive liberal commitment to free speech absolutism in a capitalist society, wherein power and resources are concentrated at the top, inevitably means defending the status quo. they set the agenda, choosing what is and isn't a violation of free speech

chomsky, who has an actually principled commitment to free speech, always points out this power imbalance and the hypocrisies it generates, as well as the structural censorship and oppression of the speech of those without power, namely the left

the examples chomsky lists there of actual violent suppression of speech, including his meetings being attacked by far right conservative thugs (who are now larping as free speech absolutists) are enough, but just consider one case-study: jordan peterson and norman finkelstein

jordan peterson never had any official action taken against him by his university. never. the only thing that happened is that students used their free speech and protested him, which was framed by a billionaire funded alt-right mediasphere as "BRAVE PROFESSOR THREATENED BY SJWS"

this frame was uncritically adopted and boosted by mainstream media, so that it became an established fact that jordan peterson was the most persecuted man in the western world. a pure fiction was turned into a highly lucrative grift by the conservative and liberal media class

now contrast that with norman finkelstein, a leftist outspoken critic of the genocidal apartheid state of israel. does anyone outside the left even know his name? he's an obscure, marginal figure. mainstream media outlets couldn't care less about him. bari weiss despises his guts

chomsky knows him and his case very well, as they're close personal friends, so he knows what he's talking about when he mentions the hypocritical double standard behind the "OMG SJWS DESTROYING FREE SPEECH" grift. so what happened to norman finkelstein?

every time he's given a speech for decades he is protested by students and other supporters of the genocidal israeli apartheid state. they shout him down, swear at him, try to prevent him from speaking. just one example here:

remember those youtube clips of jordan peterson being protested that made headline news, migrating from the billionaire funded alt-right mediasphere to mainstream liberal outlets, turning him into a free speech martyr overnight? yeah, that didn't happen with norman finkelstein

but it's not just being protested. as I said, that's just others expressing their free speech. what happened to norman was actual suppression of free speech by official authorities: the university he worked for, pressured by supporters of israel, denied him tenure and fired him

jordan peterson: protested by students, but no action taken against him by his university. opinions he espouses are completely in line with elite conservative/liberal discourse

finkelstein: protested by students, denied tenure and fired, opinions not in line with elite discourse

there you have it. the elite conservative and media class constructs false narratives of free speech martyrdom so as to defend its own interests, casting itself in the role of frail victims, while employing it as a weapon against "sjw cultural marxists", a stand-in for the left

naive liberal free speech absolutists, who take at face-value whenever the elite conservative and liberal media class concocts a fraudulent free speech narrative, are not only being duped, they're actively aiding and abetting this grift. exactly what chomsky refuses to do

I expanded a bit more on the conceptual incoherence of "free speech absolutism" in practice in this thread https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1276308624059641858

I've since made a thread detailing what was done to norman finkelstein, covering the entire history, beginning with a debate he had with alan dershowitz. it's well worth going through as it illustrates the point made here re actual suppression of speech https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1279174799969959936

see also this thread https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1281071916812566534

and this thread https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1281602468590292992