The claim that public discourse operates as a marketplace of ideas — where truth and falsehood compete on equal terms, and the better argument wins — has never described how mass public discourse actually works. John Stuart Mill's On Liberty imagined the competition occurring among individuals with roughly equal access, sufficient time to weigh competing … Continue reading The Marketplace of Ideas Was Always a Protection Racket
Tag: media criticism
Comfort Journalism: Butter Chicken & Party Balloons
I read The New York Times, The Morning, almost every morning. On March 30, 2026, the main content of the newsletter was readers' questions. It begins as follows: Your questions There is a lot going on in the world right now, much of it confusing, some of it contradictory, all of it important. War rages, … Continue reading Comfort Journalism: Butter Chicken & Party Balloons
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