Free Speech And Why It Matters

It is only by contextualising the failures of the past that we are able to learn from them.

freedom of speech is eroded if not continually defended over time.

Defending free speech means defending the rights of those whose speech we despise. Uncontroversial ideas require no such protection.

We should do all we can to cultivate a world in which creative risks are worth taking, and in which eccentricity and missteps will not be punished in the kangaroo courts of social media.

speech is integral to the human spirit and hardly comparable with guns, knives and poison.

Free speech does not belong to anyone; it is a universal precept and a core human right. If it has come to be perceived as a specifically right-wing concern, this merely goes to show that those of other political persuasions have failed to uphold it.

the repetition of slogans does not make them true.

There is no contradiction in holding individuals in contempt for their repugnant views and simultaneously defending their right to express them.

to judge art by how effectively it reinforces contemporary ethical standards is entirely to misapprehend its purpose.