Sweet Land of Liberty?
In a country proclaiming freedom of speech as its preeminent 1st Amendment constitutional value, we now seek to silence voices instead of protecting them.
College students protest to cancel speakers with “incorrect” viewpoints. News programs are now echo chambers for one side’s political views. When a panel includes those with opposing positions, the resulting “discussion” is unintelligible as they talk over each other. Do you wonder how much they have to pay the conservative member (i.e., sacrificial lamb) of the View to endure her daily flogging?
What happened to the good old days when a Jewish lawyer from the notoriously liberal American Civil Liberties Union fought to allow neo-Nazis to march through a Chicago suburb where many Holocaust survivors lived? What about the Black ACLU attorney who protected the KKK membership list from the police?
The ACLU must have detested what these groups stood for but understood the value of free speech exceeds the harm caused by the speech. The ACLU was protecting neo-Nazis and the KKK from laws and institutions used to disenfranchise minority groups.
Alas, not even the ACLU is exempt from today’s cancel culture. David Goldberger, the neo-Nazi’s Jewish lawyer, worries the ACLU is more concerned with progressive politics than free speech.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Market
The neo-Nazi and KKK speech had the exact opposite result of its intended effect. The more they broadcast their detestable positions, the more they were vilified and their targets protected.
The seriously misguided now have social media to spew their venom but continue to generate more opposition than support. We should let history repeat itself and allow the ignorant and hateful to expose themselves and be subject to the court of public opinion.
Suppressing free speech turns the stifled into martyrs. Speakers who would have attracted a small audience achieve great publicity for not being allowed to talk rather than for the content of their message.
Of course, I am not suggesting a boundless, free-for-all. We need to cover the eyes and ears of children to protect them from information they are not prepared to discern. Can we approach disagreeable speech like pornography and let the viewer decide? Judging by what is readily available, very few are ready to accept limits on pornography.
The Contrarian View
Instead of suppressing, amplify your antagonist’s voice. If they are as evil or stupid as you believe, their arguments will collapse under their own weight.
The few who blamed the recent Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy on DEI initiatives generated much more support for Baltimore’s leaders than criticism of their unrelated policies. The Michigan residents shouting, “Death to America,” were criticized by the leaders of the protest as not representative and counterproductive.
In response to student protests over objectionable speakers, no less of an authority than President Obama said, “…you don’t have to be fearful of somebody spouting bad ideas. Just out-argue them. Beat ’em. Make the case as to why they’re wrong. Win over adherents. That’s how things work in a democracy.”
Additionally, we refine our righteous beliefs through exposure to our opponent’s arguments. The echo chamber does not challenge you to develop your thinking. Those who listen to conservative firebrand Sean Hannity and liberal rabble-rouser Al Sharpton have the most considered views, even if they do not generally agree with either commentator.
Are you worried extremists will poison unsophisticated minds and make followers of the misinformed? Are you protecting the voting-age electorate from particular influences under the belief they cannot properly judge for themselves? Is this position any nobler (or less abhorrent) than subjecting voters to literacy, poll taxes, or land ownership requirements in the interest of protecting our democracy?
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Be it a belief in freedom of speech, letting your opponent’s words fail them, or improving your thoughts, do not silence but amplify your adversary’s voice.