"Let's get real about free speech"

Great talk by Greg Lukianoff on TED. The presentation is only 12 minutes, which I can recommend anyone to watch.

First he clarifies that not all speech should be free. Some speech acts like incitement of violence should not be protected. But opinions should always be free.

The main four points of the talk are that

1. Free speech makes you safer. If you ban free speech, you can't hear who the Nazi's in the room are. You are not safer for knowing less about what people really think.

2. Free speech cures violence. Some people say speech is violent. Real violence is being punched in the face or being stabbed. "We insult the victims of actual violence by equating words with violence. Free speech is not violence. It is the best alternative to violence ever invented."

3. Free speech protects the powerless. Some say that free speech protects the powerful, but in fact they don't need that because they are powerful. It is people that are not powerful that free speech protects. That's why people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela were all in favor of free speech. Free speech is the best check on power ever invented.

4. Even "bad" people can have good ideas. And "good" people can have bad ideas.

In conclusion: To understand the world, it's crucial to know what people really think. And for that we need free speech.