“There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.” – Idi Amin
Listen: A blog post isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about free speech. Freedom of speech quotes, however expertly they may have been curated, are not poised to make some pink-haired, nose-pierced, garishly-tattooed liberal arts student put down their hashtag pitchfork and reconsider whether they’re actually doing good by demanding the public crucifixion of anyone whose point of view falls right of Mao Zedong’s.
“Hate speech isn’t free speech.” This axiom, whenever it is bleated, should make any rational person’s skin crawl. It supposes that speech can be classified as acceptable or unacceptable and that someone has the duty to suppress the latter class.
No one has, and no one ought to. Perhaps in a perfect world, there could exist a ruling body that genuinely keeps its people’s best interests in mind when it bans the expression of objectively hideous sentiments. But this ain’t no perfect world, babe. If you’ve ever stepped on a wet patch of floor right after you put on fresh socks, then you have to know it.
The second you create authority, only authoritarians will allow themselves to have it. Let them control what you’re able to say, and the second it gives them an advantage they’ll slam the Overton window shut so hard it’ll cut off your fingertips. Justify restricting speech to protect the oppressed until you’ve run out of breath; it won’t change the fact that the oppressed are never the ones who control what others are allowed to say.
“Allowed to say!” We shouldn’t even be allowed to say such words. No one really gives a rat’s patoot what anyone has to say, anyway. It’s what they’re able to think that counts, and that’s the absolute devilry behind all of it. What your enemies really want is to control your thoughts. Removing your tongue is just outpatient lobotomy.
Freedom of Speech Quotes That Beg Repeating
- “This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.” – Euripides
- “Freedom of speech is freedom above all for those whose views you dislike most.” – Peter Hitchens
- “Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.” – Salman Rushdie
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Quick – what’s the greatest threat to the United States government? Is it Chinese weather balloons? Russian teenagers on Facebook? Wolves? Wrong, wrong, wrong!
It is the United States people, of course! Billions of Americans are plotting to overthrow their government at any given moment. They are texting the addresses of senators’ beach houses to their granddaughters.
They are emailing their best guesses at the nuclear launch codes to their coworkers. They are discussing how to sneak Lyme ticks into the president’s underwear drawer during lengthy, treasonous phone calls.
We have it on good authority that Doretta Spackle of Waldo, AL recently emailed a recipe for pineapple cherry dump cake to one of her friends from church. If not for the NSA, the government never would have realized that Mrs. Spackle’s email was actually a cleverly encrypted set of instructions for cultivating anthrax.
She is now serving 27 consecutive life sentences at ADX Florence. Those are only some of the reasons why it is vitally important for the government to spy on each and every one of its own citizens. Unfortunately, some people don’t realize this.
Take Edward Snowden, for example – a contractor who leaked highly classified information from the NSA that revealed the government’s numerous global surveillance programs. Journalists got involved. Words like “illegal,” “unethical” and “Orwellian” started getting thrown around all willy-nilly.
Some enemies of America actually lauded Snowden as a hero! Can you imagine? Thank God our fearless bureaucrats chased Snowden away from the Land of the Free so they could safely resume their war on freedom.
If you’re proud of their efforts, please nod your head and give a big thumbs up to your webcam right now. The NSA will genuinely appreciate the gesture!
I’m sure Edward still will “cling” to the US flag… not.
At this point, how much do any of us want to?