Estwald
Estwald
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

Your revised claim is more accurate than your original.

I never mentioned “free speech” but since you brought it up: Censorship by its very nature stifles free speech. While the censor may be someone who has the legal prerogative to do so, they are nevertheless inhibiting free speech.

There are obviously cases where inhibiting free speech is appropriate. One would not expect a Christian church to invite a speaker who denounces Christ. A Jewish synagogue would probably decline a speaking offer from a holocaust denying Nazi.

One legal restriction on free speech is false advertising. For example, a university that represents itself as encouraging free expression and debate of all issues and accepts payments on that basis and then refuses to accommodate certain speaking events because a faction within the community disagrees with the speaker, then that university would have engaged in false advertising which is not constitutionally protected speech.

A private institution has every right to invite or reject speakers as they see fit. A business has the right to fire an employee for expressing a dissenting opinion. But, when businesses or institutions are responding under threat from a mob of bullies, that is troubling.

My concern is limited. Censorship is rarely successful in suppressing a message. It often backfires and amplifies the message.

As Mark Twain tells us:

“Dear Charley, the Committee of the Public Library of Concord, Massachusetts, have given us a rattling tip-top puff which will go into every paper in the country. They have expelled Huck from their library as ‘trash and suitable only for the slums.’ That will sell 25,000 copies for us sure.” — Mark Twain 1885 {emphasis added}

By May 6, 51,000 copies had sold….
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Here are some comments that explain this concept in greater detail:

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Estwald

Estwald

A bastion of defensiveness. Bringing you all the Gish Gallop that’s fit to print (and some that isn’t). — Which reality is the real reality?

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