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#10: Is Free Speech Dead?

A particular phrase from Chapter 15 intrigued me, "we cannot help but be concerned about the freedom of expression," (Tedford and Herbeck 443). The whole textbook has shown how freedom of speech came about and why it is important, so to have something that displays concern for the future of it was very surprising. I do believe this concern is justified, though. I found an interesting article that touches on this subject titled, "How Free Speech Died in America" (Paynter). The points it raises questions one of the main reasons for freedom of speech: free speech is necessary for a democratic government (Tedford and Herbeck 443). The article states, "a safe space has become a place where free speech is shunned, when in reality, a safe space should be a place where debates are openly held without discrimination, instead of trying to silence the opposition," (Paynter). I want to know what my peers think of this. Is free speech threatened and we can no longer civilly debate things? Or is this overgeneralizing the current debate climate and only accounts for some people or groups? I think some people are incapable of having a difference of opinion without taking it personally, but I don't think this means freedom of speech is dead. I think freedom of speech will always be under question, as we've seen in cases from the book, but it will never die out because there are too many reasons why it is necessary. 

Sources:
Paynter, Braden. “How Free Speech Died in America.” Being Libertarian, 20 Mar. 2017, beinglibertarian.com/free-speech-died-america/.
Tedford, Thomas L., and Dale A. Herbeck. Freedom of Speech in the United States. 8th ed. Strata Publishing, INC., 2017

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 6, 2017 at 9:56 AM

    I agree with what you said "freedom of speech will always be under question". I agree with this. Freedom of speech has always been debated and to me is constantly changing and evolving. However, I do understand the point Paynter was making in the article. I think that freedom of speech is essential to democracy, if freedom of speech is threatened so is democracy. I think our political climate has threatened freedom of speech in some ways, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is "dead". Overall, I thought the article was an interesting read but I didn't fully agree with everything Paynter stated.

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  2. AnonymousDecember 7, 2017 at 8:01 AM

    Although some interesting points where raised I believe that the statement "free speech is dead" is an overgeneralization. Safe spaces are areas established within an institution where students — some of which who have endured trauma or feel marginalized — can feel comfortable talking about their experiences. This does not mean that free speech or debate does not occur elsewhere within these institutions. If people feel that these places are an infringement on their first amendment rights then they should simply not visit these places.

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