America’s language of extremity is shocking to Australians. With local radicals on the march, we have to push back

‘The vaunted “free speech” rights of Americans that protect expression from Nazi insignia to Klan demonstrations are being debated this week,’ Van Badham writes. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

“Why do Australians care about the domestic politics of the US?” is being asked a lot.

In the wake of another bloody week in US news and the online discourse around it, wrestling with the answer provokes questions about the implications of shared language, cultural sovereignty and deeply divergent attitudes to the politics of speech.