Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds

Speechless by Michael Knowles

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Michael Knowles is a gifted writer. He is persuasive. His analysis is exacting and compelling. He is absolutely correct that a political system based on a total absence of restrictions is fooling itself. Every political system recognizes some restriction on liberty, whether those restrictions are openly acknowledged or hypocritically concealed.

So, why did I give this book four stars?

Two reasons.

First, much of this ground has been plowed by other books. Knowles does a great job of reminding us about how the modern speech authoritarian regime developed and how it now stands. It is too easy to forget and think that things have always been this way.

However, a lot of this has been done in other books. I was hoping for an answer to the question of “what is to be done?”

Second, we don't get an answer to the question of “what is to be done?” Knowles finishes the book by explaining that answering that question would require another book, which I hope is in the works. But as it stands at the end of this book, I'm not sure what we are supposed to do with our awareness that speech always have limits - are supposed to start censoring leftists? That doesn't seem principled or possible.

I await Knowles next book.