Chapter 8
Bits in the Air
Old Metaphors, New Technologies, and Free Speech
Censoring the Candidate
On October 8, 2016, barely six weeks before the U.S. presidential election, The Washington Post dropped a bombshell.1 The Post had received a video recording in which then candidate Donald Trump used coarse language in boasting of sexual aggression toward women. As the news story reported, Mr. Trump said,
“I did try and f--- her. She was married.”…“And when you’re a star, they let you do it.…You can do anything.…Grab them by the p---y.”
That is the way The Post printed it, with hyphens replacing certain letters, but with enough context for the words to be reconstructed unambiguously. The story linked to the full, unexpurgated video, so anyone ...
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