Let’s Get Something Straight About Free Speech

Free speech is a right that if a society doesn’t have it, they want it. Hong Kong is the latest incarnation of this desire for free speech, free expression, and the right to express an opinion without government oppression. That being said, there are many things free speech does not ensure. That’s why I’m here to help everyone get something straight about free speech.

As an artist, free speech is dear to my heart. Freedom of speech allows me to create the products that I create for my readers. I can do this without fear of government retribution or having to submit my content to censors. I don’t have to wait for my books to be reviewed by a government censor in order to publish them. I also don’t have to seek authorization to be allowed to write or only publish through major media outlets. I don’t have to be a member of a political party to seek out a job in media or to create a media company of my own. These types of draconian regulations are what can restrict free speech. I am able to criticize my leaders and question their motives without getting a knock on my door from the FBI unless I’m threatening direct harm to someone. Even then, I have due process to prove my case (think of Kathy Griffin).

However, there is this idea that all ideas are equally valid and have to be accepted for what they are without argument, issue, or pushback. That’s not how free speech works. People arguing against someone or claiming that their speech is dangerous is not a violation of free speech. There’s a few misconceptions about this right that I want to talk about.

Free Speech Does Not Mean Everyone Has to Listen to Your Ideas

Or like them for that matter. Free speech is the ability to speak out ideas. You are welcome to write anything you like about how the world is flat or how vaccines don’t work. That is a right enshrined in the US Constitution and within international law. However, it does not mean that people will like your ideas, accept them, or not argue against those ideas. Often, if an idea is inflammatory or harms someone, that speech may be restricted, especially when it is happening on privately-owned platforms or in places where people do not want the speech to occur. Especially on the political Right, commentators have gotten a fair bit of pushback for pushing certain ideas and beliefs and are disappointed when people pressure them to be disinvited from a certain event or space. These commentators should be disinvited based on offense and should be protested against, but their speech is still being protected, people just don’t want to hear it and are making their distaste of that speech known. If you can’t deal with pushback against speech, then it is better to stay silent. No one has to listen to your ideas.

Free Speech Does Not Mean You’re Immune to Offense

Much of modern cancel culture has to do with being “offended” as if being offended is enough to cause someone to change their behavior or their outlook on people. If that actually worked, merely being offended at Jim Crow segregation would have ended it decades before it did. Do you know what actually ended it? Using that offense to create actual change.

Much of modern cancel culture is based on this idea that if someone says something offensive to a certain group then they should be canceled and driven from society like a pariah. This is wrong. They are free to make their ideas known and people who don’t agree with them can and should argue against them. They can vote with their dollars and choose not to engage with that business, person, or brand. Cancel culture is looking to use the power of market forces to cause change and make people align with one or more political or social values. They are free to do that but to decide that someone needs to be fired just because they have said something that a certain group of people thinks is offensive is simply unfair. If there are enough people who are unhappy with that person and their speech, then their career will already be affected. Cancel culture is beginning to create a culture of censorship around all kinds of speech, speech that can and should be protected. Somehow, having the wrong opinion is now considered a reason for someone’s life to be destroyed. How is that free speech? We can disagree and disengage, but does getting someone fired for saying the wrong thing really accomplish anything? It creates social censorship where people are afraid to speak because of the social backlash. This can be a powerful tool to change society but taken too far, as it has been so far is also a danger.

Free Speech Does Not Mean People Won’t Disagree With You

Free speech enables people to disagree with each other and this is the basis of political discourse. It is one of the most important parts of the democratic process. Being free to say and articulate ideas, by its very nature, means that people will disagree with you and somehow on both the Right and the Left, both sides think that just because they are speaking automatically means that people have to agree with your ideas or accept them. This is not the case. Vigorous debate is necessary for a democratic process. It’s how we decide how to conduct ourselves as a society. Either side expecting only their ideas to exist within the arena of ideas is crazy and dangerous. This is no way to manage a society or move a political agenda forward. There are people on the Right who will say that the Left is out to destroy them and their “traditional values” while people on the Left will say that you cannot have political discourse on the existence of people of color, queer people, or others. The key to having a positive discourse is to create conditions of respect. The signing of the Civil Rights act in 1964 did not automatically eliminate all racist people, far from it. Women’s Suffrage did not eliminate everyone who disagreed with a woman’s right to vote. However, we were able to create societal change anyway. How did activists do that? Through the power of their ideas. They used art, speeches, and small acts to create a really big change. Change occurs through positive arguments, not through censorship.

Free Speech is Sacred

Free Speech allows us to build a society in the way we want to have it. That is the most important part of free speech. Without Free speech, no other right really matters. Without free speech freedom to assembly is meaningless. Even gun rights don’t matter if the ability to protest isn’t available. Most importantly, the free speech provision within the US Constitution regulates what the Federal government can do, not what choices people might make about certain kinds of speech. If the speech anyone or any business is making is causing people to not want to be near them then perhaps it is their ideas that need changing, not the definitions of free speech.