The Most Liberal Value: Free Speech

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LIBERTARIANISM.org, by David S. D’Amato — November 26, 2015

Excerpt:

Attacks on free speech reveal progressivism as a uniquely American iteration of fascism that shares many of its historical and ideological roots.

Recent events on American college campuses have prompted a debate on where we should draw the line that divides permissible from impermissible speech. Many students argue that some kinds of speech cause real trauma and hurt, and that therefore universities ought to intervene to protect them. The essential argument is the old and illiberal one that some words and ideas are simply out of bounds, that our benevolent rulers—in their infinite wisdom—must decide which words we may say or write, which books we may read, indeed, which opinions we may hold. Nevertheless, we might excuse students, unsophisticated and new to the world of ideas, for their failure to understand true liberal values. In all of their eager, overwrought opposition to intolerance, they have become the picture of intolerance. Much less pardonable, though, are the cowardice and capitulation of scholars and university administrators, who, despite their erudition and experience, have cleared the way for an authoritarian culture of hypersensitivity that grows stronger by the day. Just as the events of September 11th cowed us into embracing the most dangerous of enemies, the national security state, so too has our irrational fear of “hate speech” (and other similarly amorphous categories) persuaded us to abandon one of our foundational liberties. As Robert Higgs recently observed, we have regrettably become “a massively entertained, hyper fearful bunch of people who will sit still for a police state.”

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View the complete article at:

https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/most-liberal-value-free-speech