Free speech limits are intrinsic to subject formation, not just external constraints

Evidence

The limits to free speech aren’t merely those imposed by law and convention—that is, by an external power. They are also intrinsic to the time and space it takes to build and demonstrate a particular argument, to understand a particular experience—and more broadly, to become particular speaking and listening subjects. The investment people have in particular arguments is not simply a matter of abstract, timeless logic. It relates to the kind of person one has become, and wants to continue to be. In other words, there is no public sphere of free speech at an instant. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 898

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A paradigm shift on what constrains speech: the deep temporality of becoming a particular person, not just state or law limits.
• XREF: Echoes the reader’s wider reading on how institutions (law merchant, communication media) shape subjects rather than merely constraining behavior. — connects to: Obedient public speech can signal compliance without conveying belief — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 165