Words Don’t Speak Louder than Actions

I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

We are a far cry from this once-acclaimed statement of classical liberalism. Misinformation. Fact checkers. Social media suspensions or total account bans. How soft can society become? I’m not sure if I should even ask because on a daily basis we seem to grow softer. 

I believe in free speech. Not like people who say they believe in free speech, “but . . . ” No. I believe in free speech, period. Granted, things others find offensive, I do not. I’m a rather offensive person myself. I cuss, I laugh at the darkest of humor, I create my own dark humor; what can I say, it’s funny watching people squirm or get offended over words. But when being offended by someone’s opinion or statement bleeds into canceling them from all social media platforms or having that person fired simply because you don’t approve? This is where we collectively need to draw a line. 

I expect the Left to cancel. They relish the thought of being offensive, but oftentimes they play the offended victim because these days, victimhood sells. It’s typical. But what’s worse than that is seeing people who say they believe in free speech join in with elitists on the Left to finish someone off. It’s shameful. 

Who exactly gets to choose what is off limits to discuss? Is it you this week? Will it be the president next week? A social media CEO? Who gets to decide when free speech has been taken too far? These are the questions we should be asking. You can’t pick and choose what is acceptable when it works in your favor and then become outraged when someone else picks and chooses something not in your favor. 

It’s simple: free speech cannot work under those hypocritical guidelines. 

 

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