Power and Free Speech

A popular idea circulating among the woke is that free speech is a tool of the powerful and therefore a weapon of oppression. Not only does history say otherwise, but so does logic. Notice that suppression of free speech, by definition, requires power to censor, therefore it is always, without exception, carried out by the powerful (usually governments—generally the most powerful entity in a given society). There are logically coherent (although bad) arguments for censorship—such as Willmoore Kendall’s idea that the best society is marked by majority rule and censorship is a tool the majority should use to protect itself from subversive minorities—but those making such arguments never delude themselves that somehow it’s the weak, powerless, oppressed doing the censoring. The most powerful and oppressive institution in nearly every society is the body with a monopoly on force—the government. When governments censor, it is therefore the strong and powerful shutting down someone weaker, ergo the claim that free speech is a tool of the powerful is quite misguided.