The Indispensable Right Quotes

“Today’s advocates of harm-based speech controls flip this concept on its head in treating censorship as a type of self-defense. That is the flawed logic behind the now common position on campuses, that blocking or interrupting speakers is itself a form of free speech.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“The answer to that question has made a profound difference in the protection or prosecution of speech. One can view water as indispensable for putting out fires, but that is different from viewing water as an essential element for life. Similarly, free speech can be viewed as indispensable to democracy, protected for its ability to foster the forming and advocacy of political positions. Yet that indispensability is cabined as a function of political expression. As such, it can be dispensable in other areas or when the speech is deemed of lesser value. Alternatively, as argued in this book, it can be indispensable because it is an essential part of being human, a natural right. Whether based on a religious view of a divine gift or a secular view of inherent human qualities, this broader view treats speech as indispensable as the manifestation of a creative and expressive impulse regardless of the subject matter. Neither view treats free speech as an absolute. However, the latter view based on individual autonomy allows fewer “trade-offs” through balancing and harm-based tests.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“Many of these officials, journalists, and academics today would be mortified to be associated with “censorship” or an anti–free speech movement. Yet, the use of euphemisms like “disinformation” or “content moderation” does not change the fact that they are part of a comprehensive effort to control and, in some cases, punish the exercise of free expression.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“Psychologist Herbert Simon explained: “If we wish to know what form gelatin will take when it solidifies, we do not study the gelatin; we study the shape of the mold in which we are going to pour it.… The same strategy can be used to construct a psychology of thinking.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“Mill was also clear that free speech is an essential right. Notably, he believed that the threat to free speech in democracies was not the state, but the “social tyranny” of other citizens.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“among Biden supporters, 41 percent now believe violence is justified “to stop [Republicans] from achieving their goals.” An almost identical percentage, 38 percent, of Trump supporters now embrace violence to stop Democrats.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“Once declared as harmful, it is no longer free speech and is worthy of censorship or cancellation. It is that easy. The conversion”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“there is a circle around every individual human being, which no government, be it that of one, of a few, or of the many, ought to be permitted to overstep: there is a part of the life of every person who has come to years of discretion, within which the individuality of that person ought to reign uncontrolled either by any other individual or by the public collectively.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“Recognizing a human right in an inhuman person seems a contradiction in terms. It is not. It is not that his views have value to society, but that they have value to him. He has a right to expression even though others rightfully find those views disgusting and despicable. His ability to express views despised by most of us is the affirmation of the right of all humans to exercise a natural or autonomous right. Basing the right on that autonomous basis negates the balancing or devaluation inherent under functionalist rationales. Being offended, even intimidated, by the views of others is not a harm under this Millian approach. He is projecting his view of humanity and himself into society. While grotesque and hateful, it can be countered by our own countervailing speech. This classic liberal belief that the solution to bad faith is good faith is often rejected as naïve. It has not, many have argued, stopped the rise of Nazism or the spread of racism, anti-Semitism, and other hateful ideologies. Yet allowing free speech will not eradicate bad ideas any more than practicing democracy will eradicate the impulse for authoritarianism. Racism and prejudice will always be present in society. Moreover, extremist rhetoric is always likely to attract the most attention, even if it is the product of a small minority in society. Still, history has shown that censorship and speech suppression do little more than force such views underground.”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage

“inchoate crime. Under this construct, speech is converted into an attempt to commit the criminal offense depending on the circumstances and time of expression. Thus, speech can be criminal or noncriminal depending on the audience and the context if the words “are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about” a crime”
― Jonathan Turley, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage