Freedom of Speech

Two articles over at CiF. Glenn Greenwald gets it. Jason Farago doesn’t.

When the state gets to decide what may or may not be said, we are on the slope –  indeed we are a long way down it –  to totalitarianism. Hate speech –  a term that is pretty broad these days –  is nothing more than obnoxious opinion. Banning these opinions from Twitter or Facebook does not make them go away. To believe this is the height of naiveté. People don’t suddenly become cuddly teddy bears because the state does not allow them to make unpleasant remarks. Hate speech is not itself an incitement to violence and therefore should not be illegal –  especially given that it is the state that makes the determination based upon its own whim and the orthodoxy of the moment. Better, then, that people be allowed to air their bigotry out in the open where it may be openly challenged. This point, Greenwald understands and Farago –  along with Mme Vallaud-Belkacem –  does not. But then, the state in all its forms has always tried to control what we may think, say and do and there have always been the useful idiots cheering them along like so many clapping sea lions, eager for their portion of fish. It is the Faragos of this world who are the real danger here, not the anti-homosexual or anti-black bigots mouthing off their ignorance and bile on Twitter. As Greenwald points out, Farago is a journalist; he above all else should understand why freedom of speech is so important. Clearly journalism has sunk to a new nadir.