Free speechless

Too Long; Didn't Read

<span>T</span>here’s been a lot of debate on the limits of free speech in recent years. The current PC culture, that has grown from a plea for a more polite society to a war on offensive Halloween costumes, seems to make people forget why liberal democracies have free speech in the first place. Why it matters, why it is the most important value a society can hold. Why Evelyn Beatrice Hall (often misquoted as Voltaire) said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. Free speech is important because of the fact that humans only have two ways to settle disputes. One is through violence and the other is through conversation. Cripple one and get more of the other. Free speech is not merely one’s right to say what’s on one’s mind, but also one’s right to hear ideas that would otherwise have been suppressed.