The liberal view of free speech comes down to us from that bedrock document, Mill’s 1859 “On Liberty.” When it comes to free speech, Mill wants us to ask something simple: Is this practice causing me any real harm? Not potential harm to my feelings, not social harm to my idea of right, not damage to the great precepts of religion or to my stuffy uncle’s sense of propriety or to my inner sense of safety. Unless the speaker is actually about to cut your throat, you have to let him work his jaw.
