Ken WhiteApr 23, 2023

FIRE notes that TPUSA targeted 61 professors in 2021. FIRE doesn’t note that it sponsored a TPUSA “free speech” event in 2017. One of my criticisms of FIRE is that it occasionally has difficulty distinguishing between free speech supporters and people who support speech they agree with.

https://www.thefire.org/news/report-scholars-punished-their-speech-skyrocketed-over-last-three-years

REPORT: Scholars punished for their speech skyrocketed over last three years

A new report from FIRE finds that attempts to punish college and university scholars for their speech skyrocketed over the past two decades, from only four in 2000 to 145 in 2022.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

It's a conservative org masquerading as a free speech org, and occasionally the mask slips.

Show threadKen WhiteApr 23, 2023
@SapphicLawyer it’s litigation history doesn’t support that. But I believe it makes bad PR and emphasis choices sometimes.
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

Straight from its Wikipedia page.

Show threadKen White
@SapphicLawyer I guess they’re confused https://www.thefire.org/news/victory-after-fire-lawsuit-court-halts-enforcement-key-provisions-stop-woke-act-limiting-how
VICTORY: After FIRE lawsuit, court halts enforcement of key provisions of the Stop WOKE Act limiting how Florida professors can teach about race, sex

A federal court halted enforcement of key parts of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” in the state’s public universities, declaring that the law violates the First Amendment rights of students and faculty.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Apr 23, 2023 at 2:30amWeb
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

https://www.thefire.org/news/bloomberg-and-koch-wall-street-journal-stop-stifling-free-speech

Read that paragraph about safe spaces. Even if you agree with their position, they look at this stuff through a very conservative lens.

Bloomberg and Koch in ‘The Wall Street Journal’: ‘Stop stifling free speech’

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Show threadKen WhiteApr 23, 2023
@SapphicLawyer I think they lean credulously in to right wing culture war talking points that are not genuinely pro free speech. But their legal record and record of defending speech on all sides simply doesn’t support the caricature you’re offering.
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

I'll agree they often do good work, but they've leaned into the conservative stuff too often for me to trust them given the funding.

I respect you too much to make a spat over it though, so I'll drop it.