The Quotation:"If we don't believe in free speech for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all".
Who said it:Noam Chomsky
Source: Brainyquote
Thoughts on the quote: It's short and easy to remember, which is a good thing in a quote of this kind. More importantly, the message it conveys is key. It is easy to support free speech for people we agree with; it is more difficult to support it for people we despise. But it is key to do so, because, just as we despise one sort of speech, some others may despise what we say, and try to make a law about it. So, everyone has a right to free speech: The Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan; the John Birch Society and the Communist Party and, therefore, you. No matter how unpopular your views may be, the government cannot make laws preventing you from voicing them. Perhaps all your views are quite mainstream, perhaps not. No matter. Your ability to voice them is protected.
At the same time, we should not what the first amendment is and is not. The first amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws limiting speech. It does not guarantee that everyone should have the opportunity to broadcast their speech, nor does it require individual companies (such as newspapers, radio stations, TV channels or web sites) to offer slots to people of all viewpoints. Further, it does not say that such a company may not dismiss a person for making statements it finds abhorrent or commercially nonviable.
Thus, free speech is both very broad and very narrow: With certain very narrow exceptions, anyone may stand on a street corner and say what they like. But no one can compel another person to help spread those views more widely.
About the author: Noam Chomsky is a linguist, philosopher, historian and activist. He has been a professor at MIT for over 50 years.
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