Throughout the three-day conference, a clear opposition between regulation and media literacy as responses to disinformation became apparent. Where many participants argued that the threat posed by disinformation outweighs the individual right to express one’s self freely, others argued that, in the hands of an authoritarian ruler, regulations of expression could be unscrupulously applied—indeed, to such an extent that would extend and not curtail disinformation. To that end, the argument went, media literacy would be farmore effective than regulation at targeting disinformation and upholding democratic norms. Indeed, this central question highlighted the complex historical and ideological discourses around issues of democracy, free speech, and disinformation, both within specific national contexts and transnationally.

I enjoyed hearing these debates as much as I enjoyed engaging in them with the other seminar participants. Chatting, debating, agreeing, or disagreeing with an eclectic group of students, teachers, and researchers—from fields as diverse as theater studies, information science, security and intelligence, and journalism, for example—underscored the function of events like these and institutions like Fulbright itself in securing democracy: without variety, without dissention, a democracy is simply an inward-facing choir of self-satisfied ignorance—at best. Particularly in countries that continue to struggle with securing freedoms for their most vulnerable groups, it is as timely as it is urgent to stress, as Rosa Luxemburg stressed, that freedom always means the freedom of dissenters—or, as the case may be, “foreigners.”

To that end, it seems that thanks are due! To Fulbright Austria for giving me the chance to be a foreigner for a year. To Fulbright Belgium for giving me the opportunity to bring even more variety into a year already rich with experiences of difference, diversity, and dissention. And to the students, teachers, professors, classmates, and coworkers I met this year, who did their part to contribute to a freer, more open, and more democratic world—one play, one lecture, one seminar, one vocabulary test at a time.