about speech

[joshu]

As an experiment, I am trying posting here instead of tweetstorms. If you really prefer tweetstorms, let me know (probably by tweeting at me)! If you prefer this format, also let me know (also tweeting at me about that works fine, but you could comment here too)!

When I hear people voicing their concerns about the silencing of others voicing hateful ideologies, it strikes a sort of resonance in me with a worry that I have, and so I imagine that I understand them a little. The worry goes something like this: “I think that my positions are acceptable, and pretty moderate, but I know some people disagree with me. What’s to stop me from being the next one silenced?”

At times like this, I remember: if I would like to see the end of hateful ideologies like white supremacy, then my silence does not serve me. Silence normalizes, and in this case, it normalizes in a very specific way: when I remain silent because of these worries, I equate the mistakes I have made in my life as I try to come to wiser conclusions with deliberate and hateful rhetoric, which looks like such an odd equivalence to me that it encourages me to wonder where it comes from.

When I examine its source, I find that the people who support these hateful ideologies also have an interest in stoking this worry in others: they defend themselves by comparing their actions (for example, a dozen-page manifesto on the biological inferiority of other human beings) to our actions (for example, an ignorant and embarrassing statement about a friend’s racial background). They allow us to attribute their words to accidental ignorance because then, in order to defend our own egos, we will defend them – or at the very least, feel very worried about the consequences of their deliberate hateful actions.

A little earlier, I phrased the worry that I have as a question. I like questions: I think we could all use more questions in our lives, so long as we approach them with curiosity (what a friend of mine would call “interested non-attachment”) and not with dread of what answer we might find. Lately I’ve also been thinking about another question: “Why is free speech important to me?” I found the essay Tolerance is not a moral precept a thoughtful exploration of this question, and if you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to do so! I would love to discuss it with you.