Chalkface freedoms

[sawyl]

Trawling through today's Gruaniad over lunch at the BTP, I was impressed by Gary Younge's article on the treatment of liberals academics in the US. Surely, if the various conservative critics really do believe they have the right answer, they have the courage of their convictions and let their ideas be freely debated challenged rather than simply pouring streams of invective on those they don't like? If they really are right, then surely they've got nothing to fear. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe all the ad hominems are totally legit. Maybe I've totally misunderstood the concept of having a civilised culture...