Speech in America is fast, cheap and out of control
The internet and social media did not create white supremacist movements in the United States, such as the hate groups that rallied in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month to deadly results. Nor did the internet create Donald Trump, who defended the Nazi protesters as "very fine people." Trump was a demagogue long before he became @realDonaldTrump on Twitter. And there was plenty of "fake news" before there was Facebook.
The rise of what we might call "cheap speech" has, however, fundamentally altered both how we communicate and the nature of our politics, endangering the health of our democracy. The path back to a more normal political scene will not be easy.
