Adam Young: The Rich, the Marginalised, and the Right to Dissent

When I imagine the exercise of free speech, speaking truth to power and “sticking it to the man”, I don’t think of back-room discussions or big-money lobbying. No, one simply needs to run a google image search of “free speech” to see the symbols of protest: the crowds holding up their placards, the fist raised in dissent. Free speech is not the tool of the elite but the marginalised, who have not money nor power to set the agenda, but simply their voice. Now, a recent study coming out of Victoria University, looking at who appears to value free speech the most and who actually benefits the most, has found just that.