Free speech can’t just apply to those you agree with

Well, nobody else has, so I'm going to argue against free speech here. It's an ideal from racist, colonial societies hundreds of years ago that has little relevance today.

We're in a multicultural society consisting of large blocs of people who have little in common culturally. This cannot be changed. We cannot stop Muslims being Muslim, and we can't stop them living here. Muslims can contribute to society, but they will not tolerate disrespect of their religion. Sikhs and Hindus are another example. Jews do not like being singled out for criticism or to have Israel criticized. Women do not like sexist comments, gays do not like homophobic comments, and so on.

All of these problems are caused by too much free speech. If we can simply stop people from voicing opinions and doing things in public that upset others, we can enjoy a productive, diverse society that largely gets along. Differences of opinions will exist, but if they are not seen in public, they will upset fewer people.

The problem, then, is that it's too easy to upset too many people. Things that you can say about Muslims with your friends in the pub cause outrage when they're put on Twitter. Many kinds of plain speaking will outrage millions of people and cause social unrest or worse.

Therefore we should restrict speech further, in the name of a harmonious society. I suggest

  • enforcing bans on blasphemy
  • punishing hate crimes much more harshly than we do
  • banning a wide range of topics from any public discussion, starting with immigration, Islam, Israel, feminism... pretty much any controversial topic.

I realize many here won't like this proposal, but objectively, you're weighing your pleasure at being able to say exactly what you feel against a cost to the whole of society. Free speech doesn't sound much different to a harmful habit such as smoking.

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