Some people’s idea of [free speech] is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. Winston Churchill Oxford Union Society has an interesting debate on the freedom of speech, with the proposition that the right to free speech always includes the right to offend. There are three speakers for and three against this proposition. Brendan O’Neill | Freedom of Speech and Right to Offend | Proposition Brilliant start with the historical intro and the modern use of censorship (“no platformed”). And his way of dealing with questions (“No.”) … waow. And yup, the goal is to police thought, to determine what is right and wrong for others. And yup, it’s intolerance of other people’s ideas. Ideas that bring mankind forward. Yep, “Offensiveness is the motor of human progress.” And yup, very paternalistic to say that women are super-fragile and very neo-colonialist to say that black students need to be protected from ‘harmful ideas’. And his point that the issue is this idea of human vulnerability, the notion that humans are fragile and therefore our speech and our relations must be monitored and policed. And yup, it’s a misanthropic idea. [...]
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