
<p>I have frequently described myself as a “free speech extremist.” ; That is just another way of expressing my belief in the text and the meaning of the First Amendment. ;</p>



<p>There are three areas in which free speech comes into question. ; The first is when words can inflict very specific harm – where they conflict with other Constitutional rights that we Americans cherish – some more than others. ; In those cases, we do legally limit unfettered rhetoric. ; That includes inciting violence and slanderous or libelous statements. ;</p>



<p>The second category is where words offend or insult others – the so-called pejoratives. ; The new left believes that such language should be “cancelled” by cultural norms, extralegal rules and laws. ; ; I disagree. ; Using offensive terms and language is a critical part of free speech. ; It may be discomforting and irritating but it falls under the protection of the First Amendment, in my view. ;</p>



<p>The best response to offensive language is to ignore it under the sticks-and-stones philosophy. ; Words are only as truly harmful as far as we allow them to be. ; As a person who has engaged in political life for more than 50 years, I have had a lot of pejoratives and ad hominem lies tossed at me – to my face and behind my back. ; I have never felt that they inflicted any harm to me that required cancelling the First Amendment. ; I did not see them as sticks and stones but only as words that could not truly hurt me. ;</p>



<p>I am sure some of the lies may have diminished my reputation in the eyes of those who did not know me, but that is just part of life – especially in the political arena. ; Maybe the “duck’s back” analogy applies. ;</p>



<p>Today, the left is creating a culture of hypersensitive folks who need protection – safe spaces – where “never is heard a discouraging word.” ; That is just another example of how the left lives in an imaginary theoretical world of unrealistic idealism – the utopia. ;</p>



<p>The problem with the “snowflake” culture is that cancellation of free (and even offensive) speech on Campuses, on the public commons and even in private spaces, is that each “snowflake” is allowed to determine what language is offensive to them. ; Which words are to be cancelled. ; In other words, free speech is not protected by the Constitution and our inalienable rights but restricted by the lowest common denominator – the weakest among us. ;</p>



<p>You can see the problem with Facebook – and other social media platforms – being deployed as censors far beyond what the Constitution allows. ; Initially, Mark Zuckerberg, expressed his belief that Facebook was just a platform for free speech without reservation. ; The liability for speech that does not fall under constitutional protection is properly addressed by laws. ; ; ;</p>



<p>If you are inciting a riot in language on the platform, then that is between the inciter and law enforcement. ; If someone was determined to have incited a riot during a meeting in a hotel, one does not – or should not – place legal liability on the hotel owners. ; When people incite riots in public spaces, we do not allow suits against the municipality or the park district. ;</p>



<p>And that takes us to the third issue of free speech. ;</p>



<p>We have now seen political opinion being deemed offensive. ; Facebook now serves as the arbiter of what is proper or legal. ; Censoring or cancelling political opinion is the slippery slope to autocracy. ;</p>



<p>In one of the scariest and most egregious examples, Facebook took down a front-page report on the Hunter Biden laptop from the <em>New York Post</em> – one of the major news outlets in America. ; Based on political bias, Facebook determined that the story was untrue. ; In fact, all accusations regarding that notorious laptop were being cancelled across the social media world. It has now been confirmed from many sources that the <em>Post</em> article was 100 percent correct. ; Facebook <em>et al</em> – and all those news sources had suppressed the political truth – wittingly or unwittingly supporting the campaign of Joe Biden. ; Many argue that had the truth been revealed in a timely fashion, Biden would not have been elected – that other controversy notwithstanding. ;</p>



<p>Ponder that for a moment. ; Think about the traditional constitutional American democracy. ; A presidential election was arguably flipped by suppressing – cancelling – critical information. ;</p>



<p>So many of America’s great institutions of education had fully embraced the cancel culture by promoting the nonsense of verbal aggressions and categories of microaggressions. ; They promote the cancellation of opinion and statements that have no calculable harm to an individual or a society – but rest solely on differences of political or philosophic opinion. ; They institutionalize the cancel concept with policies of segregation and safe zones into which the weak-minded and immature “snowflakes” can huddle like children terrified by things that go bump in the night. ;</p>



<p>Even legitimate and critical public debate on issues by knowledgeable authorities and stakeholders are being cancelled from the college platforms. ; This is nothing less than censoring public debate in favor of political oppression. ; This is leftwing mob rule. ;</p>



<p>As a free nation, we have known how to address words that truly do harm. ; We have a legal process to prevent them or to punish the users. ; But to now add words that are offensive to the list of unacceptable terminology is oppressive to society – and drastic limitation on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. ;</p>



<p>But nothing is as grave a concern as the cancellation of free speech when it comes to political opinion that nullifies the First Amendment completely. ; And it is not just the hand of government that suffocates the Constitution, but every private and academic institution that is allowed … encouraged … to operate as censors aligned to the authoritarian left. ;</p>



<p>If we lose our First Amendment right to speak freely – even offensively &#8212; the American democratic Republic dies. ;</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis. ;</p>

Cancelling the cancel culture is not easy … but oh so necessary
