The rise in intolerance of racist speech and the rise in the scale of racist provocations are intersecting and we are drawing the wrong conclusion – that there is a free speech crisis. In fact, it is a polarisation crisis. What is really on the cards with this misdiagnosis is a chilling effect and the quieting of voices that are protesting harmful speech. This objection is being delegitimised by dismissing it as a rejection of free speech, and deploying ‘what next’ fallacies. What next fallacy promoters claim that curbing free speech, even if it is harmful, is a ‘slippery slope’.
