You’ll never easily get through to those people. They hold idealism over material reality in many cases.
The best way I’ve found to get even some of them to at least stop and think for a minute is to ask if preventing people from doing things like:
Screaming slurs next to a preschool
Publishing deliberately false information to ruin someone’s reputation
Doxxing someone who was mean to you
…is justified. If they say yes, then maybe unlimited free speech isn’t perfect, and restricting Nazis could be justified. If they say no, then you’ll know they’re a lost cause.
Great question. Intention matters, so many countries focus on speech that can only be malicious, like incitement to violence in the UK or Nazi salutes in Germany.
People ready and willing to spread violent, harmful hate can be dealt with via the laws they violate. Assult, battey, stalking, theft, etc.
The subtle side is, as always, if your speech cannot persuade the (large) majority that the opposition speech is wrong, then to dismiss the opposition is to become the oppressing minority.
You’ll never easily get through to those people. They hold idealism over material reality in many cases.
The best way I’ve found to get even some of them to at least stop and think for a minute is to ask if preventing people from doing things like:
…is justified. If they say yes, then maybe unlimited free speech isn’t perfect, and restricting Nazis could be justified. If they say no, then you’ll know they’re a lost cause.
Is the problem the speech or the people tbat speak it?
Great question. Intention matters, so many countries focus on speech that can only be malicious, like incitement to violence in the UK or Nazi salutes in Germany.
People ready and willing to spread violent, harmful hate can be dealt with via the laws they violate. Assult, battey, stalking, theft, etc.
The subtle side is, as always, if your speech cannot persuade the (large) majority that the opposition speech is wrong, then to dismiss the opposition is to become the oppressing minority.