Freedom of Speech: Does Free Speech Help Minorities?
What would you give for your freedom of speech? We explore a crash course in civil rights and free speech. Click Here to Learn More
When people call for censorship they often argue that offensive speech is harmful to the vulnerable and oppressed, but the reality is that a system of robust uninhibited free speech is actually an oppressed person’s strongest weapon.
Oppressed and marginalized minorities by definition have little political power. Powerful majorities that are allowed to implement restrictions on speech will inevitably do so in a way that guards the status quo from descent and disruption.
This is why our founders considered the right to free speech so important that they purposely took that power away. Granting majorities the authority to determine when speech is harmful and when to censor it, only invites further ooppression. What do you think? Leave your comments below.
Freedom of Expression (article): The ACLU breakdown on the importance of freedom of expressions.
Civil rights & the First Amendment (blog post): A First Amendment scholar explains how freedom of speech and the First Amendment were crucial to the Civil Rights Movement (and vice versa).
Abolition of Slavery & Free Speech (blog post): The National Coalition Against Censorship details some of the violent attempts to suppress the speech of abolitionists.
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