You're welcome. One of the reasons I'm a free speech absolutist is that, historically, when speech restrictions are enacted they're used against exactly the groups of people who are already marginalized. No, you can't publish that poem about two men kissing. No, you can't show a white man and a black woman in love in your movie. No, you can't show heroes in your comic book defending brown-skinned immigrants who might have committed a petty crime in order to feed their starving children.
And on and on. Popular speech - that is, the speech of generally white cis het men - is usually not in need of protection. Freedom of speech is crucial for exactly that unpopular speech that marginalized people need to speak. I believe that if we let up on that, the immediate result will be to shove people further down, into closets, and out of a public arena where they might garner support for their (take your pick) radical, queer, communist, socialist, ideas.
I think, also, that free speech does not mean a free ride. As I said, you can't both speak and then expect the world to go on as if you had not spoken.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-01-03 11:00 pm (UTC)And on and on. Popular speech - that is, the speech of generally white cis het men - is usually not in need of protection. Freedom of speech is crucial for exactly that unpopular speech that marginalized people need to speak. I believe that if we let up on that, the immediate result will be to shove people further down, into closets, and out of a public arena where they might garner support for their (take your pick) radical, queer, communist, socialist, ideas.
I think, also, that free speech does not mean a free ride. As I said, you can't both speak and then expect the world to go on as if you had not spoken.