The Power of Free Speech

Free speech is completely free. It has no exception. A society cannot settle on a compromise, nor can it have it both ways, where certain aspects of speech are forbidden, while only some parts are allowed. Indeed, such compromise stands on very slippery middle ground, because a society will inevitably gravitate toward restricting the freedom of speech more and more, until it gains totalitarian control over how its citizens think; or, ideally, it comes to realize the futility of finding such a compromise, and lifts all restrictions on its citizens' freedom to speak. We all know, by history, what totalitarian regimes do to their people and how they fare in the long run. Most of us, people of the free world, are fond of saying: that government which governs best, governs least (Henry David Thoreau). Yet, given what we say, we should attain a higher understanding, without reverting to the usual bipartisan politics, about free government. And there is no better place to start than the very first freedom, in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, among the first civic lessons children learn in grade school. The Freedom of Speech. Speech is not only the first freedom we are entitled to in a free society; it is the last one that we should give up, in case we falter and lose our freedoms, because we have first destroyed ourselves (Abraham Lincoln). Free speech is the seed of democracy, or any kind of free government. With free speech comes everything: free information, free petitions, free thoughts, free actions. And if we find something to be missing, or lacking, or restricting, we can use our free speech to demand change. However, one might add, we can also use free speech against ourselves. If we are free to speak, we are also free to give away our right to speak freely. Or we can use free speech to hurt others, even demand that their free speech be ignored, or suppressed. Free speech can be misused. But that, my friends, is the beauty of free speech. People are free to use it however they want. I'm not using any sarcasm here. I understand its free nature, and I see that actually, free speech is a very neat way to bring change to society. Let me explain. When people have freedom, they have choices. That means that theynot the dictator, not the tribal chief, not their neighbor, not their uncle TomTHEY are the ones that make choices. Thus, if people are free to speak, they are naturally held accountable for how they use that freedom. All of sudden, people begin to consider every aspect of their speech, because it defines who they are. Ideally, with great freedom comes great responsibility. And with all that comes complete transparency. Free speech ensures change because it makes it hard for people to hide anything. Consider all the peaceful revolutions that the U.S. have gone through during the last century. Take the 1960s' civil rights movement. Surely, it wasn't a pleasant time for the nation. Americans had to reconsider how they had treated the other segment of the population, the African-Americans, with whom they had had a long history. It was an unresolved history. It was also a taboo. Everyone had free speech, but no one wanted to talk about it. The psychology of the nation was like that of a person who has insecurities and vices which he subconsciously recognizes, but does not want to acknowledge openly, so he buries them deep

into his consciousness and carries on with life as if everything is okay. Periodically, the dark corner of his psyche resurfaces and causes him great discomfort and anger. Just as any psychologist would say to him, Talking about it helps. Likewise, bringing it out into the open, speaking about it freely, and resolving it once and for all would have helped Americans. If we examine the role that Martin Luther King played in the civil rights movement, we find that he was, first and foremost, a man of words. Certainly, he was instrumental in the political aspect, in pushing through the civil rights legislation. Yet he made the greatest impact by bringing the most essential quality to a peaceful revolution: speech. If you could ask King or Gandhi if non-violence could have been achieved if everyone had kept quiet and refrained from saying things that would cause a great commotion, they would have said no. This is because when the people took command over their right to speak freely, they allowed themselves to protest. Of course, we must recognize that the Americans and the British also had full freedom to use their speech as well, to criticize and put down the protesters. They also had the freedom (because they had the majority vote and, in the case of the British, the assumption of absolute power) to enact laws that allowed them to use violence against the peaceful demonstrators. This is certainly unjust, but perfectly allowed by free speech. Yet, this is how free speech works wonders. The ultimate advantage that Gandhi and King had was that they let the collective consciousness of a group of people outplayed itself in action. And whatever acts these people committed, the society at large could judge the actions for themselves. Gandhi and King knew the high potential of free speech, and they used it fully. They realized that even though their oppressors had the freedom to offend them, eventually the latter's actions would become so extreme, so obvious that even they themselves would come to the point where they suddenly questioned what they were doing. This is typical human psychology. An aggressor attacks a person whom they must see as weak and submissive. Yet if that person refuses to play the victim role (by reacting negatively) in the aggressor's drama, the aggressor is naturally jolted out of his perception and realizes (though briefly) that he is doing things that are clearly insane. The person confronted with the aggression, we must recognize, is not being a masochist; he simply has a thorough understanding of free will (along with, one can add, courage and compassion). He clearly sees that the aggressor has complete free will to do what he does: namely, getting himself stuck in a perpetrator-victim mentality. And because he cannot see clearly in such a mindset, he is not making the choice that a free human being would make. By shocking a person out of his perception, you can help him judge his actions for what they really are. Free speechspeaking out on your part, and allowing the person to play out his psychological baggageis perfect for this endeavor. King, so to speak, did not accomplish anything very grand. He simply brought out into the open that guilty, resentful piece of history that America as a nation was (and is) still grumpy about. He reminded them of their right to talk about it openly, so that they might resolve their psychology and move on to better things. Talking about it really helps. It helps people understand everything: in this case, the fact that

what you do to others, you do to yourself. If there is any virtue that a free society should value most, it is free speech. It should never be restricted, whatsoever. If a society claims to be free, yet still seeks to limit certain aspects of speech, then it has some unresolved psychology to look at. Rest assured, however: whatever problems confront your society, change happens quickly when you speak out more. People are entitled to free speech, for a noble reason. When people use it well, democracy breathes freedom. When people use it against one another, they are given every opportunity to see clearly the fruits of their actions. And when they see themselves for what they have become, they can be free to make the choice to give up their imperfect beliefs, and grow in understanding. There is an invisible hand that promotes positive change in the world. It is free speech.
Copyright 2012 by Khoa Tran. You are free to copy and redistribute this article, as long as you use them for non-commercial purposes.