Going back over my more recent blog posts, I find that I’ve been writing a lot about freedom of speech and that’s because it is, and has been for at least three or four decades, under ever-increasing assault. And the war on free speech has become far more open and vociferous over the last ten years or so. Make no mistake, “war” is the proper term here. I am a free speech absolutist.
Freedom of speech is an absolute and inalienable right of American citizens and human beings vis-à-vis their governments. Inalienable means it exists within you simply because you are human. Freedom of speech means that even if someone insults you in the vilest way possible, the government DOES NOT have the right to sanction or arrest that individual for their speech. You can punch them in the throat, but you cannot expect the government to arrest or fine or otherwise silence them on your behalf. So-called “hate speech” IS PROTECTED SPEECH.
There are three very narrow categories of unprotected speech. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE ) Has a very thorough, clear, and concise discussion of these categories. I suggest you bookmark FIRE’s site so you can refer to it whenever the discussion turns to free speech.
- Incitement to imminent lawless action (incitement);
- speech that threatens serious bodily harm (true threats); or
- speech that causes an immediate breach of the peace
Is that clear? If the speech you don’t like does not fall into one of these very specific categories, your choice is to counter with more speech, open up said insulting speech to sunshine and let others decide, or walk away.
Freedom of speech means freedom for everyone to speak as they desire regardless of the state of your knicker-twisting and regardless of your like or dislike of the speaker. If you don’t like their speech, your protocol should be more speech to counter theirs, NOT calling the cops for some imagined crime. Freedom of speech means you, yes you, must tolerate (note, “tolerate” does NOT mean “like”) speech which makes you angry, uncomfortable, and/or hurts your feelings. Freedom of speech means people get to disagree with you and say their piece in the public square without fear of arrest or punishment by the government. Freedom of speech means people get to post whatever they like, wherever they like.
In the U.S., the Supreme Court has, over the years, created a penumbra, or shadow, radiating out from the First Amendment that covers and protects a number of forms of speech. Activities like burning the American flag are considered symbolic speech, and thus are protected activities. You may despise someone who elects to burn a flag, but the government cannot stop them. You are free to try to stop them, but then you risk venturing into assault territory if you touch or hit them, which has nothing to do with your right to speech, but rather your lack of rights to hit/assault someone. Burning the flag is protected speech.
If someone is writing opinion pieces, or stating opinions on video, you don’t like, guess what? You cannot stop them, nor can you get them in trouble. As a true advocate of freedom, your only choice is to – gasp – not read the piece!
Or, putting your emotions aside and exercising your critical thinking skills, you can – again, gasp – read or listen to the piece and figure out where you diverge from their ideas and where your own interpretations fit in. Wow! What a radical thought!
Freedom of speech means just that – freedom. And that means you are going to hear and read a LOT of things you disagree with. Oh, no! Anyway…
Suck it up, Buttercup. We ALL have the same rights.
