What Free Speech Doesn't Give You The Right To Say

What Free Speech Doesn't Give You The Right To Say

People are remarkably confused about free speech.

First of all, the abstract concept only applies to what the government cannot do. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech."

Second, the United States is the only country in the world in which the government may not prohibit the free exercise of speech. In every other country, including the other great English-speaking democracies, the governments can and do make laws forbidding certain types of "hate speech."

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So - conclusion one - no country seems to think that "free speech" is such a good idea in the first place, except America.

And - conclusion two- no classical concept of "free speech" applies to individuals or corporations. While the government may not forbid you from saying "god sucks," your local church, mosque or synagogue may and most certainly will do so, and boot you out to the pavement if you insist on doing it anyway. Similarly Facebook or Twitter (or Other Crap) can ban any damned speech they choose to. They are private enterprises, not the government. If they want to ban the right or left wing, or vegetarians, or Buddhists, or the Taliban, or Presbyterians, or Gerard Depardieu, it is their decision based on the impact it will ultimately have on their traffic and/or financial viability. They will, of course, have to think long and hard before taking any such action. Most large businesses choose to stay politically neutral, because that is usually the safest course, but occasionally some company like Chick-Fil-A will take a controversial stand because they think the backlash will be insignificant compared to the love they get from supporters. (They were right, at least in the short term. Their sales soared in 2012.)

Off-topic but for the record: I'm with America against the world on the First Amendment. Once you allow the government to determine which opinions you may or may not express publicly, then your freedom to express those opinions depends entirely on who gets into office. It may seem appropriate to you that Germany bans pro-Nazi rhetoric as hate speech, until you realize that it once banned anti-Nazi rhetoric on the same grounds. Would you like to give Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton the ability to determine which opinions are hate speech? I hope your answer was "no" in general, although I fear many of you, if not most, answered "yes" to one and "no" to the other.