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The Right to Offend is the Heart of Free Speech
Censorship is always about what offends the powerful, whether the powerful are princes, priests, or mobs. Where there’s no free speech, speakers on the left and right are punished by the offended in ways that include impoverishment, imprisonment, and death. The question that is not ask: Does being offended give you the right to silence people?
Traditionally, the American left said no. Vietnam War protesters burned the American flag because it was a powerful symbolic statement. Lenny Bruce noted, “If you can’t say ‘fuck’ you can’t say, ‘Fuck the government.’” Because “offensive” subjects in the United States have included socialism, gay rights, atheism, pornography, and even pacifism (Eugene Debs is one of many who were arrested for opposing war), the left defended the right to offend.
But today, leftish fans of censorship defend no-platforming and oppose “hate speech” even though there’s no evidence that speech laws and codes do anything to reduce hate. Commenting about countries with hate speech laws, Jonathan Turley noted, “None of this, mind you, has put a dent in the ranks of actual fascists and haters. Neo-Nazis are holding huge rallies by adopting new symbols and coded words while Germany arrested a man on a train because he had a Hitler ring tone on his phone.”
