The Gray Area with Sean Illing
Free speech is often treated as a timeless and sacred right. But what if it’s more myth than reality?
This week, Sean is joined by historian Fara Dabhoiwala, author of What Is Free Speech? They trace the history of free expression from 18th-century pamphleteers, to John Stuart Mill, to the digital platforms that dominate our lives today.
They explore why speech is never just “speech,” how context and power shape who gets heard, the dangers of harmful speech, and the challenges of regulating platforms in a global media environment.
Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Fara Dabhoiwala, historian and author of What Is Free Speech?
We’d love to hear from you. Email us at tga@voxmail.com or leave a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your questions and feedback help us make a better show.
Watch full episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube.
Listen ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: http://vox.com/members
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The climate apocalypse will be televised
Guest host Alissa Wilkinson talks with Dorothy Fortenberry, a co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer on Extrapolations, the new star-studded anthology series on Apple TV+ that imagines the ravages of climate change deeper and deeper into…
A philosopher takes on religious life
What would drive someone to renounce all their possessions, relationships, and ambitions to join a religious community? Sean talks with Zena Hitz, whose new book A Philosopher Looks at the Religious Life explores this question…
Your brain isn’t so private anymore
Guest host Sigal Samuel talks with professor of philosophy and law Nita Farahany about her new book The Battle for Your Brain. In it, Farahany details the new brain-scanning tech that has already arrived, and…
Brian Stelter thinks the news has a reliability problem
Will the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News be a watershed moment? Is the media industry beyond repair? Sean Illing is joined by media reporter Brian Stelter, the former host of CNN’s Reliable Sources and the…
How corporations got all your data
Sean Illing speaks with Matthew Jones, historian of science and technology, and co-author (with data scientist Chris Wiggins) of the new book How Data Happened. They discuss the surprisingly long history of data from the…
The case for failure
Is our society’s fixation with success hindering our ability to find humility? Sean Illing speaks with Costica Bradatan about his new book In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility, which explores failure through the…
Poetry as religion
Sean Illing speaks with poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, whose new book The Wonder Paradox asks: if we don’t have God or religion, what — if anything — do we lose? They discuss how…
Revisiting the American Dream
In America, there’s been an increase of available jobs, and there’s also been a series of high-profile layoffs, strikes, and calls for unionization. The social safety net for workers is disappearing, so what can people…
The cost of saving pandas
The giant panda is no longer endangered. This, of course, is good news. But the model of conservation that worked to protect these iconic bears has failed to help the countless other threatened species on…
Breaking our family patterns
Sean Illing speaks with marriage and family therapist Vienna Pharaon, whose new book The Origins of You aims to help us identify and heal the wounds that originated from our family, which shape our patterns…
