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Free speech dies when the populace grows complacent and takes its liberties for granted.
If nothing else, the story of Galileo is a potent reminder of the importance of freedom of speech, and how none of us can ever be sure which heresies of today will become the certainties of tomorrow.
Free speech is the marrow of democracy. Without it, no other liberties exist. It is detested by tyrants because it empowers their captive subjects. It is mistrusted by puritans because it is the wellspring of subversion.
Historically, censorship has been enacted by the state, but with the rise of social media as the de facto public square, big tech corporations now have dominion over the acceptable limits of popular discourse. We are rapidly moving into an age in which unelected plutocrats hold more collective power and influence than any national government, only without any of the democratic accountability.
Just as freedom of religion incorporates freedom from religion, the right to speak and listen also entails the right not to speak and listen.
Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Mohammed – like its cartoon of the Holy Trinity, in which the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit are seen engaged in a three-way sexual encounter – are not ‘punching down’ at ordinary Muslims, but ‘punching up’ at the icons of powerful global religions. After all, you can’t punch much higher than God.
religion is an ideology like any other and has no right to be cushioned from derision.
Cancel culture is a mutated form of political correctness that seeks to police language and thought alike. It is a type of soft authoritarianism that accentuates the problems of division and intolerance as it attempts to mitigate their effects.
In the midst of a seemingly interminable culture war, it is always worth reiterating the point that freedom of speech is the seedbed of all our freedoms.
Cancel culture is not limited to the living.
A combination of state censorship, hostility to press freedom, cancel culture, big tech interference, media complacency, and a substantial proportion of the public that has lost trust in its fellow citizens, has created the conditions within which authoritarian alternatives can germinate.
Without freedom of speech, therefore, we are kept in a permanent state of infancy, thwarted in our development as fully autonomous and free-thinking citizens. Without it, there can be no education, no means to defend ourselves when maligned or misrepresented, no exchange of ideas, no artistic expression, and no safeguard against indoctrination. Through speech we express scepticism, probe for answers, make sense of our experiences, and navigate towards the ever-receding horizon of truth. We surrender these freedoms at our peril.
