Let Them Speak: Censoring Controversial Speakers Gets Us Nowhere

“If a speaker from the alt-right attracts listeners, it is useless to rush to block him. The better approach is to engage in deep thinking to determine why so many people are willing to follow these messages.”

Our tendency to block or shut down speech we don’t like is among the worst things we can do for ourselves, our values, and the survival of our societies.

This tendency to censor is not just limited to university campuses; it runs deep everywhere. Now, with the help of social media, it finds itself amplified to new heights. At the slightest sign of an idea that we do not like, there is a flurry of calls, petitions, tweets, all calling for a swift movement that will silence, disintegrate, and crush the bothersome opposition. Journalist Jon Ronson, for example, delivers a detailed view on how we have no limits in ruining someone’s life, using social media. A controversial statement can cause social media storms that destroy careers.

It is a natural tendency to seek to avoid speech we do not like. Oxford Professor Robin Dunbar in Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language discusses that for survival, we keep like-minded people around us. That might look like a viable solution for our day-to-day lives, but the damage to us, collectively, is immense.

To entertain a metaphor, look at a body with a fever. There is something wrong; its cells and organs are struggling, indicating through painful symptoms the situation needs urgent care and a remedy. If you ignore the fever, something far worse will come your way. Likewise, hearing speech that is outrageous, out of order, or even repressive is like society’s fever, a warning that something is disastrously amiss.