Excellent analysis by a judge of freedom of speech debate

This is the celebrated metaphor of the “marketplace of ideas,” which postulates that free speech is necessary because it is the “marketplace of ideas” that generates what the truth really is. The American commitment, that a society where ideas are freely expressed is better than the one where ideas are controlled, has been likened to its commitment that free economic markets are superior to state-regulated economies.

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The debate continues, because others might suggest that Nazi Germany was not a free “marketplace of ideas” but rather a regime that practiced strict censorship. In support of this suggestion is the infamous 1933 Berlin “Bücherverbrennung” (Burning of the Books), during which 20,000 books were burned on the state allegation that they conflicted with Nazi ideology. The Nazis did not tolerate any competing thought or expression, and so those who take this view say that Nazi falsehood did not win over truth in a fair and open encounter.

Read the whole thing.