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Stop Using Free Speech As An Excuse To Be Awful

Zeba Blay

On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence got a mixed reception when he delivered a commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. Before he had even finished his address, dozens of students, some wearing rainbow flags on their graduation caps, stood and walked out.

Undeterred by the silent protest, Pence continued his speech, saying to the graduates: “While this institution has maintained an atmosphere of civility and open debate, far too many campuses across America have become characterized by speech codes, safe spaces, tone policing, administration-sanctioned political correctness ― all of which amounts to the suppression of free speech.”

This is a line of reasoning we’ve heard time and time again, mostly from those on the right. The pristine ideal of “free speech” is used to dismiss legitimate criticism of language and policies that harm marginalized communities. Figures like Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, and Bill Maher have invoked the “free speech” argument when they’ve been called out, criticized, or boycotted for their rhetoric.

None of them, however, have actually had their speech curtailed. They have never been thrown in jail for things like inciting racist and sexist abuse against comedian Leslie Jones, or complaining about Jews in America, or suggesting Muslims are inherently violent. Indeed, it wasn’t until Yiannopoulos started speaking positively about pedophilia that he actually faced any tangible repercussions.

Perhaps to Pence, who has come under scrutiny in the past for his history of endorsing and enacting anti-LGBTQ policies, the students who booed and walked out during his speech were only proving his point: that we live in a society where political correctness (a phrase that’s often just coded language for “liberal oversensitivity”) is leading us to a future where young people balk at anyone who shares an opinion different than their own.

But it’s not that simple.

Contrary to popular belief, free speech, in the context of the Constitution, actually does have limits. The First Amendment does not protect speech that incites violence, fraud, or child pornography, or certain forms of obscenity. It puts limits and restrictions on slander, and intellectual property.

And while it protects criticism of the government (including the president), and also protects unpopular or potentially offensive political or ideological views, it doesn’t mean one can say or do anything they want without social repercussions.

In other words, free speech does not mean that people aren’t allowed to be offended by or disagree with what you say. Free speech is not an excuse to say racist, homophobic, sexist things. The Constitution may protect your right to say some of those things, but you are certainly not protected from being called out for doing so.

Beyond a seeming lack of understanding of the basic tenets of free speech, this line of critique also frames any identification of instances of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamaphobia, ableism and transphobia as threats to free speech itself. And the ultimate effect of this argument can be chilling.

As Ulrich Baer put it in a New York Times essay published in April: “Requiring of someone in public debate to defend their human worth conflicts with the community’s obligation to assure all of its members equal access to public speech.”

The students who decided to publicly protest Pence for his views, many of whom identify as queer, have as much of a right to exercise “free speech” as Pence and his supporters. Safe spaces do not “suppress” anything ― they level the playing field in a landscape where so many of those who bemoan political correctness do so at the expense of already marginalized communities.

Of course, the conversation surrounding free speech is not a simple one. The difficulty of defining hate speech, for instance, has often come up in this ongoing debate, with some critics arguing that censorship is not the solution to offensive or hateful language that is constitutionally protected.

“There is no legal definition of hate speech that will withstand constitutional scrutiny,” Will Creeley, Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told Think Progress in January 2016. “The Supreme Court has been clear on this for decades. And that is because of the inherently fluid, subjective boundaries of what would or would not constitute hate speech. One person’s hate speech is another person’s manifesto.”

So, OK, both sides of the aisle must contend with how to express themselves and have vigorous debates about difficult without being awful. But research has shown that those who defend their “right” to use racial slurs and racist hate speech often use free speech to do so. A 2017 study found that out of hundreds of participants, those with high levels of racial prejudice were much more concerned with upholding freedom of speech, but were also less likely to defend free speech in non-racial scenarios.

It’s certainly savvy to deflect the argument that what you are saying is offensive by zeroing in on a political ideal, free speech, that everyone can get behind. It’s ultimately just a rhetorical ploy to normalize ideas that oppress others. And complaining when those who are oppressed call out these ideas, as is their right, is another petty ploy.

What Pence and Yiannopoulos and Coulter and other right-wing provacateurs are really doing when they weaponize free speech against marginalized people is perverting the idea of free speech itself.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated that the First Amendment never protects hate speech. It does.

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Bullying

Even kids who share the same identity -- be it racial or gender -- can be guilty of bullying and discrimination against each other. Ontario's Ministry of Education defines bullying as "a form of repeated, persistent, and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person's body, feelings, self-esteem, or reputation."

Cyberbullying

Social media can be a platform for bullying to continue even after school is out. Cyberbullying occurs when young people take malicious actions online. through chat rooms, email, social sites and instant messaging.
Social media can be a platform for bullying to continue even after school is out. Cyberbullying occurs when young people take malicious actions online. through chat rooms, email, social sites and instant messaging.

Stock Answer To 'What Are You?'

"You don't need to go into full confessional mode, but have fun with it, if that helps. Or be perfectly honest," author Jonathan R. Miller said. Miller writes e-books with multi-ethnic characters and themes. You don't have to talk about all the nuances of your family tree every time you're asked about your background, he said. That can be exhausting. Find something that works for you personally.

Real Answer To 'What Are You?'

"I like the word 'mixed' because it's a messy word, and in my experience growing up mixed is exactly that," Miller said. He suggests that it's important to allow yourself to truly wrestle with questions of identity in environments you consider safe.
"I like the word 'mixed' because it's a messy word, and in my experience growing up mixed is exactly that," Miller said. He suggests that it's important to allow yourself to truly wrestle with questions of identity in environments you consider safe.

A Friend To Confide In

If you are struggling with your identity, you don't have to tell the whole world, but confide in a friend that you trust. Having someone to confide in is important. "If you can, find someone who you can talk to about your most honest, ever-evolving, often-messy answer to the question, 'What am I?'" Miller said.
If you are struggling with your identity, you don't have to tell the whole world, but confide in a friend that you trust. Having someone to confide in is important. "If you can, find someone who you can talk to about your most honest, ever-evolving, often-messy answer to the question, 'What am I?'" Miller said.

If You Can't Speak, Write

"Maybe you don't have anyone trustworthy to talk to honestly about your experiences. Write about them. It helped me, sometimes, to get those out," Miller said. It may not make a lot of sense initially and it might feel uncomfortably personal, but write. Keep a journal, write short stories and rename the characters, try your hand at poetry -- whatever feels best.

Let Your Identity Be An Open Question

"You are likely being told at different times, more or less, to hurry up and get off the fence, pick a side and get on with it," Miller said. It's not necessarily a bad thing to be unsure of who you are, even if your peers seem to have their acts together, he said. Teenage years are discovery years. Miller also quoted author Rainer Maria Rilke: "'Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. ... Live in the question.' That's good advice. Difficult to follow, but good."

Embrace The Chameleon

When it comes to mixed heritage, "you don't have to be 'both' or 'other' or 'all of the above' all of the time. Sometimes the only way to figure out what you are is to choose one thing and be it for a while," Miller said. Explore how it feels to fully embrace a single aspect of your identity, for short period of time. See "what stick and what slides off." It's simply learning, Miller said.

Don't Be Afraid To Abandon The Labels Altogether

"I can't tell you how many multi-racial people I've met who have chosen a single race or ignored race entirely and been perfectly content with the decision. A biracial friend of mine used to tell me, 'I'm black and white, yes, but I'm black. Period,'" Miller said. He said he knows many people have chosen to identify with only one aspect of their multi-background, while others have embraced the blend.

Get Involved In Life

Find creative ways to occupy your time, Miller said. Join a group or do an activity (with others) where you are empowered to be who you are, instead of having to act how others think you need to be in order to fit in.
Find creative ways to occupy your time, Miller said. Join a group or do an activity (with others) where you are empowered to be who you are, instead of having to act how others think you need to be in order to fit in.

Be Proud Of Who You Are

Take pride in your ethnic (culture, color or religion) heritage. You have no control over your heritage, and you can't change that fact that this is who you are. So embrace it and learn as much as you can. "You may feel like it would be an insult to your heritage to embrace one aspect of yourself above the others, but trust me, it wouldn't be. This is important: it is not your job to uphold, with perfect equity and grace, all of the elements that went into your making," Miller said.

Have A Ready Defense Against The Identity Police

"Often they're the 'gatekeepers' that decide whether you're 'in' or 'out.' But what you can do is have a ready answer for the 'charges' they level against you. Whether you use humour, earnestness, or self-righteous anger, it helps to have your defense lined up and ready," Miller said. Sometimes people think all the "members" of their cultural or ethnic community must behave, dress and think a certain way. But as an individual, you can do whatever you want and find your own identity.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.