Free speech
I'm an advocate of free speech. I think that people should be allowed to express their ideas, no matter how much I may disagree with those ideas. I only ask that there be some guidelines to how free speech be allowed to operate.
First, I don't think free speech includes body armor, weapons, clubs, helmets, flames, rocks, or other implements. If you can't get your point across with words, then you're not engaging in free speech, you're engaging in coercion.
Second, I think that free speech requires dialogue. It is not speech when one side drowns out another side by their sheer numbers. It is not free speech when one side uses their bodies to crowd and intimidate someone who is speaking.
Third, I don't believe all ideas are created equal. I don't believe that free speech requires one side to listen to the other side. Forcing someone to have to listen to an opposing argument, simply because "all sides must be heard," is just another form of conversion. Listening to all views is the mark of an enlightened person, but I hardly require everyone to be enlightened. If some people want to live in ignorance, they should have that right.
Fourth, I do think that there are some limits to free speech. I believe that people in positions of authority must carefully consider what they say so that their words are not taken to imply an order to take action. Putting someone else in a position where they have to do something illegal is a form of coercion. I think that inciting people to violence is unacceptable and not justified as free speech. I think that pointing out danger ("crying fire in a crowded building") is justified when there really is a fire. And as long as the speech doesn't incite immediate lawless action, I think it should be allowed, even if we object to it. But when speech crosses this line, I think that the right to free speech is lost.
I don't have all the answers to the issue of free speech. In fact, I suspect my views are rather simplistic. But they guide me to question everyone yet listen to everyone. I feel that as a citizen in our democracy, I have the capability of judging the ethics, morality, and truth of someone's statements, and the mere existence of those statements should not cause me fear and trepidation.
First, I don't think free speech includes body armor, weapons, clubs, helmets, flames, rocks, or other implements. If you can't get your point across with words, then you're not engaging in free speech, you're engaging in coercion.
Second, I think that free speech requires dialogue. It is not speech when one side drowns out another side by their sheer numbers. It is not free speech when one side uses their bodies to crowd and intimidate someone who is speaking.
Third, I don't believe all ideas are created equal. I don't believe that free speech requires one side to listen to the other side. Forcing someone to have to listen to an opposing argument, simply because "all sides must be heard," is just another form of conversion. Listening to all views is the mark of an enlightened person, but I hardly require everyone to be enlightened. If some people want to live in ignorance, they should have that right.
Fourth, I do think that there are some limits to free speech. I believe that people in positions of authority must carefully consider what they say so that their words are not taken to imply an order to take action. Putting someone else in a position where they have to do something illegal is a form of coercion. I think that inciting people to violence is unacceptable and not justified as free speech. I think that pointing out danger ("crying fire in a crowded building") is justified when there really is a fire. And as long as the speech doesn't incite immediate lawless action, I think it should be allowed, even if we object to it. But when speech crosses this line, I think that the right to free speech is lost.
I don't have all the answers to the issue of free speech. In fact, I suspect my views are rather simplistic. But they guide me to question everyone yet listen to everyone. I feel that as a citizen in our democracy, I have the capability of judging the ethics, morality, and truth of someone's statements, and the mere existence of those statements should not cause me fear and trepidation.
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