This is a compilation of clips, outlining Brendan O'Neill's stance on free speech, in order to illustrate my own position.

Too much emphasis is being placed on the individual's right to voice their ideas and beliefs and not enough on the right of countless others to hear those opinions. Both are important, but the latter is far more intrusive, if for no other reason than the sheer numbers involved.

Good or bad, I wish to hear opinions so that I may assess them; and, if necessary, adopt or rail against them. They can make me wiser or strengthen my current opinions. Either way, they are the means through which I educate myself. I refuse to placidly accept that government - or anyone else, for that matter - has the right to dictate what I must learn and think; or, what I must not learn or not think.

If you're willing to abdicate that responsibility, to a third party, shame on you.

Full Debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFehCMUQqk

Niall Ferguson is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, at Harvard University. He is also a senior research fellow, at Jesus College, Oxford, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and visiting professor at the New College of the Humanities.