The Strip Mall of Ideas

“The Framers couldn't have imagined that the free marketplace of ideas would morph into a strip mall of ideas, which would, in turn, morph into a glass enclosed three-story, airless multiplex of ideas.” 

—Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate, “Remarks at the Free Speech Monument Dedication,” Charlottesville, Virginia, 2006.

Above: In 2006, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression established a two-sided, 54-foot-long slate chalkboard wall with accompanying soapbox outside the Charlottesville, Virginia, City Hall to encourage free expression. Click here.

 

• Editorial Comment: How about the Twitterverse of Wild-Eyed Bloviation?

peezpix by Ted Pease

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Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard