Free Speech

So, if you hang around a university long enough, you're bound to start hearing people talking about "Freedom of Speech." It's terribly important to them. Absolutely vital.

But what's interesting, what's actually worth listening to after their tedious repetitions of how strongly they believe in "Freedom of Speech," is what they mean by the term. Seriously, ask them about it.

Because I did. And what you get is, "I believe in Freedom of Speech, but not when it's used to spread hate." Or, "I believe in Freedom of Speech, but not to lie." Which is all well and good, except that when you stick that "but" in, it stops being freedom of speech. Freedom of speech means just that - the freedom to say what you think and believe. When you add that "but," when you start limiting it, it's not freedom of speech anymore, so stop telling me that's what you believe in.

You see, I do believe in freedom of speech. I believe that sub-moronic, red-neck pig-fuckers should be perfectly free to call the Jews filthy money-lenders, to say they think the blacks should be sent back to the cotton plantations and that gays should be locked up. And I should be free to call them useless, bigoted wastes of bio-mass.

It used to be we weren't supposed to talk about evolution and gay rights and all kinds of other ideas that used to be considered unacceptable. When we start allowing censorship, we're letting other people decide for us what ideas are acceptable. So, who do you trust with that power?

Me? I wouldn't even trust myself with it, let alone anyone else. That means I have to let the bigots and morons have their say, which certainly isn't fun. Worse yet, it means I have a duty to tell them and everyone around them that they're wrong, and why they're wrong. It can be hard, and profoundly annoying, work.

But then me and the censors could be wrong about something, too. I don't know everything, and if I start deciding what it's acceptable to say, I could silence someone who has something important to say. After all, not everyone's stupid - just the vast majority of them.

--Hewligan