When politicians echo Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ famous observation about “shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” it typically means they are trying to justify unconstitutional speech restrictions. So it was with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s comments after the racist mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store on Saturday.
Hochul was responding to questions from “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, who during Sunday’s show condemned “a permissive culture on the internet” that allows “right-wing extremism” and “white supremacy” to run rampant. Given the role that such views played in Saturday’s horrifying attack, Todd asked Hochul, shouldn’t “internet companies” be “held responsible for the easy spread of this propaganda”?
