When I began following free speech controversies, I was a First Amendment absolutist. Now I’m something less comfortable. I still think free speech is a good idea, certainly better than alternatives I’ve come across, but I’ve learned that everyone has a line that can’t be crossed, a word that sticks in the craw, an image that feels like a kick to the gut. The First Amendment, bless its little heart, always eventually lets us down (self-protection is innate, tolerance an acquired taste), so how can I not be bothered by its limitations?

This is a running log of arguments over free speech – some silly, some funny, some hard -- because free speech is all about argument. Being able to speak our mind makes us feel good and it's essential to real democracy and fairness. Yet, in the end, one of the best reasons to keep our speech rights intact is that we miss them when they’re gone.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

I'm not in favor of Ann Coulter either, but...

The University of California, Berkeley, birthplace of the 1960's Free Speech Movement, caved in to threats of violence and cancelled a planned speech by rightwing provocateur Ann Coulter. University officials wrote to the sponsoring group, the Berkeley College Republicans, that they were "unable to find a safe and stable venue," while a spokesman affirmed Berkeley's commitment to a diversity of voices

Sound familiar?

So I'll sound familiar too by repeating that the right response to threatened speech is not to suppress it, but to get rid of the threat.
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