You Don’t Have a Right to Not Be Hurt or Offended (Nor Should You)
At least if you want to live in a free society
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” Those words were written by “Silence Dogood” in a 1722 letter to The New-England Courant. The letter was written in response to efforts by the royal governor of the Massachusetts colony to curtail speech rights in colonial-era New England.
Those familiar with history will recognize that “Silence Dogood” was a pseudonym for the then-young and ambitious Benjamin Franklin.
While Franklin may have written these words in his youth (he was a teenager at the time), his words still ring with wisdom today.
If you want to live in a free society, you must protect the freedom of speech.
The consequences of having free speech are indeed significant. You will be exposed to written and spoken words which are hateful, toxic, offensive, and hurtful.
But…
You can’t have freedom without the freedom of speech.
This doesn’t mean that there can’t be reasonable limits placed on speech (written or verbal) that constitutes libel, slander, harassment, verbal abuse, or calls for violence or insurrection.
