Why Are We STILL Tolerating Free Speech?

Observing the current free speech debate, it appears that there are the offended on one side and the absolutists on the other.

It is tempting to ridicule college kids who protest against speakers at their Unis and call for hate speech laws and safe spaces.

They appear to be coddled and unable to tolerate anything that makes them uncomfortable.

But that would undermine the seriousness of the issue at hand.

An attempt to outlaw opinions and silence people cannot be tolerated as it is fundamentally incompatible with the ideals of a free society.

Outlawing opinions is inherently anti-democratic as there should be a minimum protection of minorities that cannot be infringed upon by the majority.

Remember, the smallest minority is the individual.

However, while the free-speech absolutist case might sounds simple in theory, practice is a little different.

What for example, with speech that is actively anti-democratic, or anti basic human dignity?

Is a democracy damned to tolerate intolerance? Are we not being a bit naïve if we assume we can just overwhelm authoritarians with our free-speech tolerance? Are you not sowing the seeds of your own destruction by doing this?