Free Speech and Why It Matters

[Brick Gold]

Infect someone else

 

[Flopper]

Free speech matters, but it also needs to be protected from those who will abuse it.

Exactly. There are many kinds of speech that are anti-political: aimed to disrupt communication, inhibit free discussion, intimidate and harass, and obscure the effects of political decisions through lies, propaganda and misinformation. Those kinds of speech can destroy a democracy by preventing the capacity for moral and effective decisions. The only way to stop it in a democracy is for the people to turn away from it, and refuse to participate in such discussions.

Participating in such discussions does not help. In fact, it often has the opposite effect. It increase the speakers audience, it attracts those that support the speaker and thus creates an issue where none existed and it rarely changes any minds.