The only model that asks nothing of its citizens in terms of learning, autonomy and decision-making is the authoritarian one. Chicago, speech “may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.” As the Supreme Court observed in 1949, in Terminiello v. It requires a certain minimal toughness-and commitment to self-governing-to become informed about difficult issues and to argue, organize and vote accordingly. This is a deadly serious business.īeing a citizen in a democratic republic is supposed to be challenging it’s supposed to ask something of its citizens. Open debate is our enlightened means of determining nothing less than how we order our society, what is true and what is false, what wars we should fight, what policies we should pass, whom we should put behind bars for the rest of their lives, and who gets to control our government. The idea that we should campaign against hurtful speech among adults arises from a failure to understand that free speech is our chosen method of resolving disagreements, using words rather than weapons. Iona reminded me how I put this in my first book: It’s not surprising that free speech in a democracy can be very heated, when that protection covers people’s most sincerely held religious beliefs and their opinions about matters of life and death. I’ve made this point so many times in my career, in so many different ways, that someone made a graphic about the way I once put it on a TV show. Acceptance of freedom of speech is a way to live with genuine conflict among points of view (which has always existed) without resorting to coercive force. Historically, freedom of speech has been justified as part of a system for resolving disputes without resort to actual violence. If free speech was not powerful there would be no need either to protect it OR to ban it. It’s not surprising that free speech can be harsh, since it’s meant as a replacement for actual violence! Read more here: “Why It’s a Bad Idea to Tell Students Words Are Violence,” by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Atlantic.Īssertion: Free speech rests on the faulty notion that words are harmless.Īnswer: No, it doesn’t. Redefining the expression of opinion as violence is a formula for a chain reaction of endless violence, repression and regression. Yes, a strong distinction between the expression of opinion and violence is a social construct, but it’s one of the best social constructs for peaceful coexistence, innovation and progress that’s ever been invented. Ironically, the whole point of freedom of speech, from its beginning, has been to enable people to sort things out without resorting to violence.Ī quotation often attributed to Sigmund Freud (which he attributed to another writer) conveys this: “The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.” (Conveniently, they draw the line based on their personal views: if it’s speech that they happen to hate, then it just might be violence.) They conclude that this means it’s an arbitrary distinction-and that, since it’s arbitrary, the line can be put where they please. On campus, I often run into people-not only students, but professors-who seem to think they’re the first to notice that the speech/violence distinction is a social construct. I am therefore submitting something that is less of an article and more of a listicle: responses to some of the most common arguments against freedom of speech, and, where possible, suggestions for additional reading.Īssertion: Free speech was created under the false notion that words and violence are distinct, but we now know that certain speech is more akin to violence.Īnswer: Speech equals violence isn’t a new idea. In a recent episode of her podcast, Iona Italia expressed frustration about bad arguments against freedom of speech that she’s had to combat over and over again.
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