Speech Without Consequences Is Not Free Speech

I can’t remember a single year in the time I’ve been on this earth that I did not hear about free speech being under attack. In some corners of the world, where criticism of the government is violently oppressed, this is undoubtedly true. But in the United States, the cries of oppression are different. There have been plenty of cases where speech was clearly being censored — like in the days of McCarthyism or the revolutionary ‘60s — yet the warnings we tend to hear today about censorship raise important and troubling questions about the way many Americans understand freedom of speech.

A recent article for The Christian Science Monitor asks: As tech giants recoil from Trump and Parler, is free speech at risk? Author Arthur Bright leads readers through an accessible explanation for why the answer is not so simple, though the essay also highlights the concerns of conservatives and many others who protest that their free speech is being limited by social media companies. Writing for The Hill in a more apocalyptic tone, Joe Ferullo expresses worry that Sacking the Capitol proves free speech is in trouble.

Whatever side of an argument someone is on, the temptation to strawman their opponent’s position often seems to be especially high where free speech enters the picture. This may be just as true of those declaring that their free speech has…