I find it extraordinary that Americans pride themselves on “free speech” when what they should be priding themselves on is “free, responsible speech”.
Free speech, as we experience it, is not free at all – it has costs, costs in terms of people’s reputations, peace of mind, self-image and even security. What may have been reasonable before the advent of the internet is quite unreasonable and socially harmful now. Anonymous cowards propagate false news, bully school kids, make false accusations, promote Nazi-type programs and slander immigrants and black people. We have never had a situation like this before. Some people, unschooled in civilised debate, seem to think that writing hurtful, scurrilous and fabricated things about someone is just fine. The Founders never foresaw the current misuse of social media and its use to influence the way we are governed. As children of the Enlightenment, they never intended “free speech” to be the weapon of choice of louts and semi-literate hatemongers.
Were Epicurus alive I think he would support free speech, but would offer official help to those who are attacked and unfairly maligned to identify the perpetrators, to to “out” them and expose them publically. That so many seem to be resigned to the actions of bullies tells me we may be seeing the end of the relatively respectful public behaviour that used to be the norm . Free speech as practised in the United States is a cruel sham that is coarsening and debasing our cultures. It only takes good people to hide away and say nothing and rapidly we cease to live in a civilised society. Are young people now so used to it that they think nothing of it? The silence tells me that most people don’t seem to care. That is very sad.
As far as the law goes, I think free speech is a good thing. It breaks taboos, allows people to express their individuality, increases the diversity of political views, hold those in power to account, and allows us to come to the truth via a through contest of ideas.
But just because we have a legal right to free speech, doesn’t mean we should abuse it to say whatever we want. Opponents of political correctness correctly say it can silence dissenters based on arbitrary and fluid social norms. On the other hand, the abolition of political correctness in its entirety has equally disturbing consequences. An expected absence of civility or restraint prevented the media from properly holding Trump to account for all the vicious and hateful things he said during the presidential campaign. Such coarseness and disregard for courtesy led to his views as well as his conduct being normalised. We should always make bullies and thugs feel weird. Outright banning them may be a step too far, unless they are inciting violence, but social isolation ought to be deployed. Its a highly effective tactic, because if people are made to feel like outcasts, they will relent. Just because they have a right to speak doesn’t mean we have a duty to listen.
“Reddit,” the 7th most-visited internet site, has faced the bullying issue, although the harassment problem is much more severe than just bullying. This recent post signals a more rigorous effort to eliminate vicious online personal threats.
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/16/11/30/2127259/reddit-to-crack-down-on-abuse-by-punishing-hundreds-of-toxic-users