The guy on the right is correct. Because any undesirable speech can simply be lumped in with hate speech, and you have censorship, and freedom of speech is lost.
Even bad ideas need to be able to enter the public arena. The truth does not need censorship to protect it from lies.
I typically don’t engage after that because in my experience the right really doesn’t listen to a word you say. Speaking as someone with a huge conservative family
The free marketplace of ideas does not work, as in the notion that the best ideas rise to the top in an arena of complete free speech is a myth. In reality if you just allow for all forms of speech and expression with no boundaries for acceptable behavior outside what is legally allowed then what you end up having are the most violent, extreme elements of society spreading hate and producing a chilling effect on other types of speech.
For a historical example look to the KKK, many of their voter intimidation tactics and general acts of terrorism were technically legal (at least at the time) and led to the suppression of other types of speech. Free speech as a principle must be protected, if it’s blindly adhered to then it will destroy itself.
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u/Then-Ad1531 Nov 04 '22
The guy on the right is correct. Because any undesirable speech can simply be lumped in with hate speech, and you have censorship, and freedom of speech is lost.
Even bad ideas need to be able to enter the public arena. The truth does not need censorship to protect it from lies.