Why freedom of speech is so important is because it could lead down a very dark road that leads to dire consequences in the absence of free speech. This is something that Jason Unruhe doesn't understand in this free speech debate. Jason Unruhe …
Why freedom of speech is so important is because it could lead down a very dark road that leads to dire consequences in the absence of free speech. This is something that Jason Unruhe doesn't understand in this free speech debate. Jason Unruhe assumes it is as simplistic as giving the regulators in government the power to merely regulate what hate speech is.
As I have argued, giving the state such power to regulate free speech opens up a can of worms as the state has the power to define what hate speech is. As we know, offending people through speech can so easily be done, therefore, how does one determine what hate speech is and what is not. Just like how leftists throw around the terms 'racist' or 'xenophobe' etc, or Nazi and Fascist, even if those words they use illegitimately, it could leave innocent people in a spot of bother.
As argued, overusing words illegitimately takes away the credibility of such words from genuine cases, such as those who are genuinely racist or whatnot.
Why freedom of speech is so important is to prevent us from leading down the road of dire consequences, ideas must be challenged and freedom of speech should not just be important to those we agree with, but also for our opposition. Instead of silencing our opponents, we should look to debate issues and arguments should be won based on sound moral reasoning, rather than simply silencing our opponents simply because we disagree with them.
It is very easy to offend people and explains the reason why it opens a can of worms giving the government the power to regulate hate speech, we have seen from the political correctness and identity politics being played by the left that anything could be misconstrued as being offensive and one must ask: who will regulate the regulators?
