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You used to hear American liberals saying things like "I disagree with your position, but I would defend to the death your right to express it." It was part of the creed that they thought defined them as "progressive". Funny, you don't hear that much any more.

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The authoritarian left around 2010 adopted the language of the authoritarian right of the early 2000s.

'If you disagree with me, you hate America' became 'if you disagree with me you hate women'.

The thing is, I don't think there are all that many liberals out there who want to use the force of law to prevent objectionable speech;

They do want to use the force of law to prevent businesses from discriminating among their customers, though, which is an important distinction.

Hate black people? Sure, put up a klan poster, but you've still gotta serve 'em a drink.

Dunno about many, but there are clearly some, and often in positions of power. Popehat has often unsettling stories about "censorious dipshits", from any political position: https://www.popehat.com/

You're sort of proving my point. "We aren't using the force of law to silence you... yet" is not the same sentiment as "We defend to the death your right to express your opinion." Meanwhile, on the real free-speech issues of the day, liberals are furious about Citizens United and are jubilant about Net Neutrality.

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