3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom
-
Sam Popowich
Abstract
‘Intellectual freedom’ is considered one of the core values of librarianship, and is the equivalent of free speech/free expression in other domains. However, intellectual freedom has always been equated with the professional ‘neutrality’ of libraries, and while there has always been a tension in the profession between intellectual freedom and social responsibility, the recent increase in politicisation of free speech has made the purported neutrality of libraries and intellectual freedom a site of political and cultural debate. In 2018 the American Library Association approved changes to an interpretation of its room-booking policy to explicitly allow hate groups to use public library spaces, setting off a major debate within librarianship over freedom of speech and no-platforming. The debate essentially revolved around hate groups gaining legitimacy or credibility by using public library spaces to proclaim their message, the question of supporting hate groups’ rights over the rights of users and staff who may feel targeted by hate speech, and the question of how the public library can or should adjudicate between competing rights. The language change was eventually reversed, but this has only postponed a resolution of the underlying contradictions within the library profession. This chapter begins by laying out the basic positions on the room-booking policy, but then broadens out to situate ‘intellectual freedom’ within librarianship’s hegemonic liberalism and offer a radical alternative vision for libraries in today’s highly polarised political culture. It then suggests that libraries need to abandon a pretence of neutrality and opt instead for a commitment to social justice. This commitment would enable libraries to escape from the paradox which a commitment to an abstract, neutral, intellectual freedom has placed them in.
Abstract
‘Intellectual freedom’ is considered one of the core values of librarianship, and is the equivalent of free speech/free expression in other domains. However, intellectual freedom has always been equated with the professional ‘neutrality’ of libraries, and while there has always been a tension in the profession between intellectual freedom and social responsibility, the recent increase in politicisation of free speech has made the purported neutrality of libraries and intellectual freedom a site of political and cultural debate. In 2018 the American Library Association approved changes to an interpretation of its room-booking policy to explicitly allow hate groups to use public library spaces, setting off a major debate within librarianship over freedom of speech and no-platforming. The debate essentially revolved around hate groups gaining legitimacy or credibility by using public library spaces to proclaim their message, the question of supporting hate groups’ rights over the rights of users and staff who may feel targeted by hate speech, and the question of how the public library can or should adjudicate between competing rights. The language change was eventually reversed, but this has only postponed a resolution of the underlying contradictions within the library profession. This chapter begins by laying out the basic positions on the room-booking policy, but then broadens out to situate ‘intellectual freedom’ within librarianship’s hegemonic liberalism and offer a radical alternative vision for libraries in today’s highly polarised political culture. It then suggests that libraries need to abandon a pretence of neutrality and opt instead for a commitment to social justice. This commitment would enable libraries to escape from the paradox which a commitment to an abstract, neutral, intellectual freedom has placed them in.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
-
Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
-
Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
