What's so good about Free Speech?

The New College of Florida has announced its intention to commission a bronze statue of Charlie Kirk “to honour his legacy.” They added that the statue “will stand on campus as a commitment by New College to defend and fight for free speech and civil discourse in American life.” Other groups have also declared similar intentions to commemorate Charlie, with similar rationales focussed on the promotion of free speech. But is it really that valuable?

It’s about time we revisited this question: Why do we need free speech?

Following Charlie’s assassination, there was a spike in Google searches for “free speech”. What is free speech? It is the power to express your opinion without censorship, restraint, or penalty from the state. It also includes the right to receive information and ideas from others. Free speech isn’t just about what you can say privately – it’s not only about producing ideas, but also about being free to communicate them to others.

Free speech is a subset of the more expansive freedom of expression. The UDHR says this about freedom of expression:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

There is an important distinction to be made here – “any media” is not the same as “any means.” You can express your views through articles, books, leaflets, television, radio, art, social media, etc. Violence, however, is not protected by this right, despite the fact that it does communicate and impart information. This is because violence threatens harm and infringes upon the rights of others.

The same reasoning applies to tactics such as the “heckler’s veto”, which occurs when a person or group prevents someone from speaking through disruption or intimidation, e.g. shouting over a guest speaker, cancelling an event due to threats. The heckler’s veto privileges the audience’s reaction over the speaker’s right.

You could organise the justification for freedom of speech into three key categories:

1. Democracy

2. Morality

3. Truth

Democracy

Legitimises Government – Free speech is the foundation of democratic authority. Ronald Dworkin argued that free speech is essential for the legitimacy of democratic government. Suppressing political speech amounts to suspending democracy itself. Citizens must be allowed to access different ideas and information and be able to freely criticise the government without fear of penalty. The state should not pre-screen ideas.

• “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” George Washington

Accountability – Freedom to criticise governments, institutions, and leaders helps to keep their power in check and prevent abuses of power. Governments often silence dissent to protect themselves rather than the public. Free speech protects dissenting voices from tyranny.

• “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation, must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Benjamin Franklin

• “Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.” Deeyah Khan

Informed Citizens – Free speech allows for the circulation of information and gives citizens access to a diverse range of views, which can guide them in making informed political choices.

Active Citizens – Citizens cannot meaningfully contribute to public life without free speech. It is essential for debate, informed voting, and consensus-building. Free speech strengthens democratic culture by normalising tolerance of disagreement. Additionally, restricting free speech results in some ideas being privileged over others, violating the democratic principle of equal participation.

• “Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.” Mahatma Gandhi

• “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell

Safety Valve – Free speech provides a peaceful outlet for grievances, allowing frustration to be expressed verbally rather than through violence. This prevents the buildup of social pressure that could lead to violence or force.

• “… it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government…” Justice Brandeis

Morality

Human Dignity and Agency – Free speech is a part of human dignity and flourishing. It trusts and respects individuals as rational beings, capable of evaluating ideas and thinking for themselves.

• “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.” Frederick Douglass

• “The First Amendment serves not only the needs of the polity, but also those of the human spirit—a spirit that demands self-expression. Such expression is an integral part of the development of ideas and a sense of identity. To suppress expression is to reject the basic human desire for recognition and affront the individual’s worth and dignity.” Justice Thurgood Marshall

Liberty – Liberty depends upon the ability to express thoughts and ideas freely.

• “Never let anyone silence your voice, even when it’s unpopular.” Charlie Kirk

Protecting Rights – Free speech is closely related to other rights and their protection. Rights violations cannot be exposed without free speech.

Progress – The freedom to argue for change leads to moral advancement and the protection of minorities, e.g. the abolition of slavery, civil rights, and women’s suffrage. Society grows stronger when it can openly challenge bad ideas.

• “No right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government.” Frederick Douglass

Resilience – Facing bad and offensive ideas can strengthen moral reasoning. Free speech also encourages tolerance and understanding, which are necessary for a harmonious pluralistic society. It allows for dialogue between different groups, thereby helping citizens cultivate a climate of respect and bridge social divides.

• “It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.” Leo McKern

• “If you’re in favour of freedom of speech, that means you’re in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.” Noam Chomsky

• “When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” George R.R. Martin

Antidote to Conformity – Free speech prevents the illusion of consensus, encouraging individuals to voice dissent before unhealthy conformity or moral collapses take root. Preference cascades are less likely to occur if citizens feel free to share their true opinions.

Safeguards – Restricting free speech often leads to corruption and abuses of power.

A Special Right – Free speech has been identified as uniquely important and worth protecting even against majority opposition. Political speech, in particular, should have the strongest protection.

• “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Truth

Marketplace of Ideas – Open debate allows truth to emerge from competing claims. John Stuart Mill argued that all opinions are useful for discovering and conserving truth. Even outrageous claims can test, refine, or strengthen truth.

• “… the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

• “You should be allowed to say outrageous things.” Charlie Kirk

• “… there ought to exist the fullest liberty of professing and discussing… any doctrine, however immoral it may be considered.” J.S. Mill

• “Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is. And you must bend to its power or live a lie.” Miyamoto Musashi

Fallibility – Anyone who silences the speech of others presumes their own infallibility. However, humans are not infallible. No single human can be trusted to decide what is true. There is a world of difference between deciding something is true because it’s well-tested and deciding something is true because you won’t allow alternatives.

• ”All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.” J.S. Mill

• “There is the greatest difference between presuming an opinion to be true because, with every opportunity for contesting it, it has not been refuted, and assuming its truth for the purpose of not permitting its refutation.” J.S. Mill

Free Thought – If certain words and concepts are suppressed, ideas cannot be formed, tested, or debated. If there is no word for an idea, it is hard to even think about it. If an idea is taboo, it will be discussed less and eventually become invisible, creating the illusion that it doesn’t exist or has no support. Choice of phrase and connotation can also shape thought. Without free speech, thought itself is stunted.

• “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” George Orwell

Error Correction – Free speech prevents silencing truths mistaken as falsehoods. Many ideas were first dismissed as stupid but later turned out to be right, and vice versa. Reform and innovation often begin as unpopular opinion.

• “… the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race…” J.S. Mill

Dead Dogma – Unless ideas are fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, they risk becoming “dead dogma” – an idea accepted without understanding, becoming formulaic and unthinking. This can lead to false or problematic positions being untested, and true positions with less support than they merit. Genuine engagement keeps truth alive and strengthens its defence.

Partly True – Even largely false ideas can contain fragments of truth. If these ideas are silenced, those fragments are lost.

Falsehood – Free speech is valuable both in the case of being wrong and in the case of being right. If an idea is entirely wrong, learning WHY it’s wrong can bring us toward a fuller understanding of the truth. There is also value in learning what people believe and how they process information, especially when the belief is false.

• “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.” John Stuart Mill

Clarity – It is better that harmful ideas are confronted and refuted in the open. The answer to bad speech is MORE speech, not less. Free speech is necessary for honest thinking.

• “In order to be able to think, you have to risk being offensive.” Jordan B Peterson.

Intellectual Growth – Free speech allows society to thrive intellectually and culturally. Every person benefits from the widespread sharing of opinions.

• “The person who knows only his own opinion knows very little of that.” J.S. Mill

Ineffective Suppression – Suppressing speech rarely eradicates harmful ideas. In fact, it can make them seem more attractive.

The radical left may have killed the messenger in Charlie, but it did not kill the message. His death has sparked a renewed emphasis on the value of free speech, as well as a widespread commitment to speak more boldly. This seems to have led to a preference cascade in America, evidenced by the reduction of registered Democrats and the rise in registered Republicans. The rate of Republican registrations in Florida tripled in the days immediately following Charlie’s assassination. Turning Point USA also saw a massive surge in chapter requests, amounting to more than 15 times the organisation’s existing size.

Thanks to free speech, people can expose themselves as harbouring vile opinions and lacking the prudence to keep them private. We can respond to these opinions and hold their bearers accountable. Many have witnessed the moral depravity of the radical left in the wake of Charlie’s death and have been moved to leave the movement. Some employers have also noticed this, firing those whose public opinions threaten profitability or conflict with the value of not celebrating murder. We are seeing the benefits of free speech in action, as it enables both personal and collective discernment.

Free speech is a vital pillar of democracy, morality, and the pursuit of truth. Statues or symbolic gestures honouring figures who advocate for free speech, like Charlie Kirk, are ultimately about reaffirming this principle: that a society committed to liberty, accountability, and truth must tolerate, debate, and learn from all ideas. We are reminded that the value of free speech lies not only in the ideas expressed but in the very act of allowing those ideas to be shared and tested. It protects the mechanisms that allow society to thrive politically, morally, and intellectually.

Let us pray for free speech, pray for truth, pray for courage, and pray for Erika and her children.

God bless you, Charlie. May we all rejoice together one day in paradise.