Comment by 4683467953381
Comment by 4683467953381 18 hours ago
Free speech is both paramount for its own sake and necessary for democracy. You cannot have a functional electoral democracy if the people already in power can decide what arguments and opinions everyone else can express. The viewpoint that censorship of expressions that those in power deem dangerous to democracy is justified to protect democracy is perhaps itself the viewpoint most dangerous to democracy. That doesn't mean it should be censored. It means it should be expressed by those who wish to express it and argued against by those who wish to argue against it, as with all viewpoints.
I've literally not seen anyone in the last two generations who espouse free speech principals who then followed them when they reached a position of power. Quite the opposite, actually, the creeping fascism currently spreading its roots in the United States features heavily decrying limits to its freedom of speech, and then instantly abusing ambiguity and leveraging the inherent unbalancing of truth with misinformation and propaganda.
Just to be clear, I agree with everything you said. I just think "freedom of speech" shares a lot of issues with things like "communism" when put into practice by eminently flawed humans.