#readwise # Let's Get Real About Free Speech | Greg Lukianoff  ## Metadata - Author: [[TED Talks Daily]], [[Greg Lukianoff]] - Full Title: Let's Get Real About Free Speech | Greg Lukianoff - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/c9d64915-df11-42e1-9ad2-2922a25e967c ## Highlights ### Mob Censorship at UC Berkeley - Students shut down a pro-Israel speaker at UC Berkeley in 2024, attacking the venue and forcing the speaker to flee. - This is mob censorship, not freedom of speech, and 2023-2024 were the worst years on record for such incidents. Transcript Greg Lukianoff Shut it down. That was the order given by angry students in response to a pro-Israel speaker. This is UC Berkeley 2024, and pro-Palestinian students were determined not to let this talk happen. A call to action went out on social media, urging students to shut down the event, and nearly 200 students showed up. They attacked the venue, they broke down a door, they broke a window, and they forced the speaker to flee. Now, I have defended the free speech rights of literally thousands of students and their right to protest, but you do not have the right to shut down someone else's talk and decide for everyone else who they are allowed to hear. That is mob censorship, not freedom of speech. But unfortunately, 2023 and 2024 were the two worst years for mob censorship and shoutdowns on record. ([Time 0:03:45](https://share.snipd.com/snip/81ce7fda-7a3f-47bf-bd85-0cf5f8b65edc)) --- ### Four Truths About Free Speech - Many people now value freedom from speech over freedom of speech. - Four key truths can restore our understanding and appreciation of free speech. - Free speech enhances safety and prevents violence. - It also protects the powerless and allows good ideas to emerge even from bad actors. Transcript Greg Lukianoff But unfortunately today, not just students, I feel like too many people believe in something closer to freedom from speech rather than freedom of speech. But I'm not willing to accept that. I believe that there are four truths that everyone needs to understand that can help get us back to understanding and appreciating free speech. And they are. One, free speech makes us safer. Two, free speech cures violence. Three, free speech protects the powerless. And four, even bad people can have good ideas. ([Time 0:06:55](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e5281238-842b-41eb-aa82-366b25ea3e20)) ^g0m4x0 --- ### Knowing the Nazis - Harvey Silverglate argued against banning hateful speech on campus. - He preferred to know who the 'Nazis' were to avoid turning his back on them. Transcript Greg Lukianoff Free speech makes you safer. My mentor is a civil libertarian named Harvey Silverglate, and he spent his career in part defending freedom of speech, both on and off campus. But when the idea started to hit campus, maybe back in the 80s, that bigoted or hurtful or hateful speech had to be banned, he would say, I'd prefer to know who the Nazis in the room are, So I know who not to turn my back to. Now, Harvey was right. It's about knowledge. Simply, you are not safer for knowing less about what people really think. So I'll give you an example. Lizard people who live under the Denver airport do not, in fact, control the world. They don't. I'm sorry. But knowing that your future husband thinks they do, or your congressman thinks they do, or every single one of your neighbors thinks they do, is pretty important information to have. ([Time 0:07:36](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9c7a464a-0e93-4e63-9f46-540549f1831a)) ^u0i1vw --- ### Free Speech Prevents Violence - Free speech is a remedy for violence, but a significant portion of Americans mistakenly equates words with violence. - By wrongly equating words with physical harm, we disrespect victims of real violence. Transcript Greg Lukianoff Truth number two, free speech cures violence. About half of Americans, by some estimates more, believe that words can be violence. And this is especially true. It's actually much worse on American college campuses. Ann Coulter, conservative, tried to speak at Cornell a couple years back, and her speech was also shouted down. And students actually literally shouted, your words are violence. Now, I have experienced real violence. I was once punched out. I was randomly assaulted. I got a concussion, and I couldn't see out of this eye for a month. Worse, one of my friends was stabbed in the chest, and I was there. There was blood everywhere, I was sure he was going to die. That's violence. And we insult the victims of actual violence by equating words with bloody violence. Free speech is not violence. ([Time 0:08:53](https://share.snipd.com/snip/3270f1ec-2b10-461f-ac0f-997b7256a91a)) ^q23hly --- ### Free Speech and the Powerless - Free speech is essential for protecting those unpopular with power or the majority. Historically, figures like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King championed it. Transcript Greg Lukianoff Truth number three, free speech protects the powerless. I fear, and I know this is about 15 years ago, that people were showing up on my radar who seem to have been taught that free speech is the cynical tool of the three Bs. The bully, the bigot, the robber baron. Now, this is just bad history. So historically, the robber baron, the wealthy and powerful, have not needed a special protection for free speech because they are wealthy and powerful. And historically, the bully and the bigot in a democratic society, if they have the votes, they still get to call the shots. You only need a special protection for freedom of speech, like the First Amendment, for people who are either unpopular with power or unpopular with the majority. This is why revolutionary figures like Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela all championed freedom of speech. ([Time 0:10:05](https://share.snipd.com/snip/26998a14-8e77-4f81-9033-c3ecb186cb88)) ^76vxzq --- ### Bad People Can Have Good Ideas - Bad people can have good ideas and contribute to society. - Morality and truth do not always align perfectly; ideas should be judged on merit. Transcript Greg Lukianoff But so much time is wasted in social media debates trying to establish that your opponent is a bad person as if that's the same thing as saying that they're wrong. Hopefully by now we understand that good people aren't always right and bad people aren't always wrong. I mean, like it or not, people with truly awful beliefs have made massive contributions. Take Wernher von Braun. Rocket scientist. Goddess to the moon. Also, Nazi. Or take Genghis Khan. Absolutely spectacular for trade routes. But... Or take someone like Malthus, reportedly a kind and thoughtful man, but his ideas on overpopulation actually were used to justify famines and mass sterilization. Or take another Thomas, Thomas More, great intellectual and literal saint who also burned people to death. But morality and accuracy don't always line up. ([Time 0:11:57](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fc26828e-54f7-4d5d-90b8-d46c77063d18)) ^ed9k4c --- ### The Essence of Truth - The process of discovering truth involves constant checking and rechecking of ideas. - This process is ineffective if you only engage with individuals who share your viewpoints. Transcript Greg Lukianoff The way we figure out truth is a process of checking and rechecking, and it doesn't work if you just talk to people you already agree with. And think about the poster boy for questioning his society's sacred cows and certainties. This is, of course, the great Socrates. He was so good at questioning certainties and sacred cows that he angered his society so much, they made him poison himself to death. Socrates embodied the idea that certainty is the mind killer. Young people used to be the great drivers of free speech, and they can be again. But for that to happen, we all must remember that to understand the world, it's crucial to know what people really think. And that is only going to happen in a situation in which people feel like they can be their authentic selves. And for that, we need free speech. ([Time 0:14:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b6633b43-e9ce-4c2a-89b8-c42be6485c35)) ^rr92mh ---