CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Next Monday there’s a panel discussion that you should pay close attention to. It’s hosted by the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy, or WIPPS. The topic: is free speech absolute?
The question itself is a trap. If free speech is absolute, people can say all kinds of unpleasant things. And, yes, that is the price of free speech.
I recoil at white nationalists chanting “you will not replace us” – it’s an anti-Jewish screed. But I’m equally worried when I hear Black Lives Matter protesters yelling “no justice, no peace.”
The limits on free speech are few, as they should be. Your speech cannot put the public in immediate danger, like yelling ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater. Speech cannot lead to threats against another. Speech exposes you to lawsuits if it is libelous. These are all well established in law, and are not necessarily controversial.
And yet many of the biggest issues of the day are actually free speech issues. I have concerns about the COVID vaccine. The official position of the government of the United States disagrees. Should the government have the right to silence me? They believe I’m putting others at risk, that I’m unpatriotic, and that the economy was disrupted because of me. But I have the right to say, publicly, that I’m a vaccine skeptic. In the early, panicked days of COVID I got letters and phone calls from people calling on me to remove certain hosts from the air because of their opinions. I was told there was blood on my hands. Hogwash. We’ve since learned that COVID shots don’t prevent person-to-person spread and that masks are generally ineffective. Speech that some would have banned turned out to be right.
I’ve voiced the opinion that there are only two genders, male and female. Some claim that’s hate speech. Hardly, it’s biology. There are many in the LGBTQ community who would want my opinion silenced.
The problem with limiting free speech is that you quickly infringe on other rights. My faith informs me that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Speaking out against gay marriage violates freedom of religion. Does complaining about vote counting and election administration rise to criminal sedition? Well, Donald Trump is about to find out. I would argue that is protected speech.
People who favor limits on free speech are generally worried that ideas they disagree with will gain traction. I’m confident that when the broadest possible speech is allowed, ideas that are correct will rise and others will fall by the wayside.
Chris Conley
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